Search Results (13)

In recent years, gaze estimation has received a lot of interest in areas including human–computer interface, virtual reality, and user engagement analysis. Despite significant advances in convolutional neural network (CNN) techniques, directly and effectively predicting the point of gaze (PoG) in unconstrained situations remains a difficult task. This study proposes a gaze point estimation network (L1fcs-Net) that combines facial features with positional features derived from a two-dimensional array obtained by projecting the face relative to the screen. Our approach incorporates a Face-grid branch to enhance the network’s ability to extract features such as the relative position and distance of the face to the screen. Additionally, independent fully connected layers regress x and y coordinates separately, enabling the model to better capture gaze movement characteristics in both horizontal and vertical directions. Furthermore, we employ a multi-loss approach, balancing classification and regression losses to reduce gaze point prediction errors and improve overall gaze performance. To evaluate our model, we conducted experiments on the MPIIFaceGaz dataset, which was collected under unconstrained settings. The proposed model achieves state-of-the-art performance on this dataset with a gaze point prediction error of 2.05 cm, demonstrating its superior capability in gaze estimation. Full article

Heritage sites are vital resources for the tourism industry due to treasures such as world heritage sites. Caravanserais are newly inscribed world heritage sites that, beyond their historical roles, are now capable to be developed as tourist attractions. This study aims to propose a framework based on a multi-criteria decision-making system to evaluate Persian caravanserais’ potential for development as tourist attractions. This study focuses on Isfahan Province in Iran, with a specific emphasis on eight caravanserais within the province that are listed as UNESCO world heritage Sites. A total of 39 relevant criteria related to network connectivity and access, tourist attractions, facilities and services, climatic conditions, geomorphological features, and hazards were utilized to assess the heritage tourism potential. The BMW-WLC multi-criteria decision-making model was applied to determine tourism development suitability and rank the studied caravanserais. The results revealed that a significant portion of the area (34%) is classified as having very high suitability, while only 6% is identified as having very low suitability. The analysis reveals varying tourism potential among caravanserais. Gaz and Gaba Abad rank high overall but require climate adaptation strategies. The results demonstrate that the proposed framework effectively assesses the heritage tourism potential of caravanserais, providing a data-driven, multi-criteria approach to sustainable development. Full article

This study assessed the drought susceptibility in Golestan Province, Northeastern Iran, using land use change modeling and climate projections from the CMIP6 framework, under three Shared Socioeconomic Pathways (SSP1-2.6, SSP2-4.5, and SSP5-8.5) for 2030–2050. The development of current (2022) and future drought susceptibility maps was based on agrometeorological sample points and 14 environmental factors—such as land use, precipitation, mean temperature, soil moisture, and remote sensing-driven vegetation indices—used as inputs into a machine learning model, maximum entropy. The model showed a very robust predictive capacity, with AUCs for the training and test data of 0.929 and 0.910, thus certifying the model’s reliability. The current analysis identified major hotspots in Gomishan and Aqqala, where 66.12% and 36.12% of their areas, respectively, exhibited “very high” susceptibility. Projections under the SSP scenarios, particularly SSP5-8.5, indicate that the risk of drought will be the most severe in Maraveh Tappeh, where 72.09% of the area exhibits a “very high” risk. The results revealed that Golestan Province is at a crossroads. Rising temperatures, exceeding 35 °C in summer, combined with declining rainfall, intensify agricultural and hydrological droughts. These aggravated risks are compounded with land use transitions from rangelands to bare land, mostly in Aqqala and Gomishan, besides urban expansion in Bandar-e Torkman and Bandar Gaz, all of which face less groundwater recharge and increased surface runoff. Golestan’s drought vulnerability has both local and regional impacts, with its increased susceptibility affecting neighboring communities and ecosystems. Trade, migration, and ecological stresses linked to declining water resources may emerge as critical challenges, requiring regional collaboration for mitigation. Targeted interventions prioritizing sustainable land use practices, regional cooperation, and collaborative strategies are essential to address and mitigate these cascading risks and safeguard vulnerable communities. Full article

Rhizoctonia solani is a basidiomycete phytopathogenic fungus that causes rapid necrosis in a wide range of crop species, leading to substantial agricultural losses worldwide. The species complex is divided into 13 anastomosis groups (AGs) based on hyphal fusion compatibility and further subdivided by culture morphology. While R. solani classifications were shown to be independent of host specificity, it remains unclear whether different R. solani isolates share similar virulence mechanisms. Here, we investigated the infectivity of Japanese R. solani isolates on Brachypodium distachyon and barley. Two isolates, AG-1 IA (from rice) and AG-4 HG-I+II (from cauliflower), infected leaves of both plants, but only AG-4 HG-I+II infected roots. B. distachyon accessions Bd3-1 and Gaz-4 and barley cultivar ‘Morex’ exhibited enhanced resistance to both isolates compared to B. distachyon Bd21 and barley cultivars ‘Haruna Nijo’ and ‘Golden Promise’. During AG-1 IA infection, but not AG-4 HG-I+II infection, resistant Bd3-1 and Morex induced genes for salicylic acid (SA) and N-hydroxypipecolic acid (NHP) biosynthesis. Pretreatment with SA or NHP conferred resistance to AG-1 IA, but not AG-4 HG-I+II, in susceptible B. distachyon Bd21 and barley Haruna Nijo. On the leaves of susceptible Bd21 and Haruna Nijo, AG-1 IA developed extensive mycelial networks with numerous infection cushions, which are specialized infection structures well-characterized in rice sheath blight. In contrast, AG-4 HG-I+II formed dispersed mycelial masses associated with underlying necrosis. We propose that the R. solani species complex encompasses at least two distinct infection strategies: AG-1 IA exhibits a hemibiotrophic lifestyle, while AG-4 HG-I+II follows a predominantly necrotrophic strategy. Full article

Ultraviolet light-emitting diodes (LEDs) based on Aluminum Gallium Nitride (AlGaN) suffer from poor carriers’ confinement effect, one possible solution to this problem is to increase the barrier heights for carriers by increasing Aluminum content in quantum barriers (QBs), which results in a higher turn-on voltage. Keeping this in mind, we have improved the carriers’ confinement by introducing a small amount of Boron nitride (BN) (2%) in ternary QBs and an electron injecting layer, which results in higher barriers that restrict the out-of-active region movement of electrons and holes. With quaternary B_xAl_yGa_zN QBs, significantly enhanced electrons and hole concentrations can be observed in the active region of quantum wells (QWs), which leads to a 4.3 times increased radiative recombination rate with a 68% better internal quantum efficiency (IQE) than the referenced conventional LEDs. Relying on the fairly improved IQE and radiative recombinations, other optoelectronic characteristics such as luminous power, emission intensity, etc., are also enhanced. Our whole analysis is based on numerical techniques but we believe that fabricating the proposed type of LEDs will result in desirable light extraction and external quantum efficiencies. Full article

Plants have been recognized as key components of bioregenerative life support systems for space exploration, and many experiments have been carried out to evaluate their adaptability to spaceflight. Unfortunately, few of these experiments have involved monocot plants, which constitute most of the crops used on Earth as sources of food, feed, and fiber. To better understand the ability of monocot plants to adapt to spaceflight, we germinated and grew Brachypodium distachyon seedlings of the Bd21, Bd21-3, and Gaz8 accessions in a customized growth unit on the International Space Station, along with 1-g ground controls. At the end of a 4-day growth period, seedling organ’s growth and morphologies were quantified, and root and shoot transcriptomic profiles were investigated using RNA-seq. The roots of all three accessions grew more slowly and displayed longer root hairs under microgravity conditions relative to ground control. On the other hand, the shoots of Bd21-3 and Gaz-8 grew at similar rates between conditions, whereas those of Bd21 grew more slowly under microgravity. The three Brachypodium accessions displayed dramatically different transcriptomic responses to microgravity relative to ground controls, with the largest numbers of differentially expressed genes (DEGs) found in Gaz8 (4527), followed by Bd21 (1353) and Bd21-3 (570). Only 47 and six DEGs were shared between accessions for shoots and roots, respectively, including DEGs encoding wall-associated proteins and photosynthesis-related DEGs. Furthermore, DEGs associated with the “Oxidative Stress Response” GO group were up-regulated in the shoots and down-regulated in the roots of Bd21 and Gaz8, indicating that Brachypodium roots and shoots deploy distinct biological strategies to adapt to the microgravity environment. A comparative analysis of the Brachypodium oxidative-stress response DEGs with the Arabidopsis ROS wheel suggests a connection between retrograde signaling, light response, and decreased expression of photosynthesis-related genes in microgravity-exposed shoots. In Gaz8, DEGs were also found to preferentially associate with the “Plant Hormonal Signaling” and “MAP Kinase Signaling” KEGG pathways. Overall, these data indicate that Brachypodium distachyon seedlings exposed to the microgravity environment of ISS display accession- and organ-specific responses that involve oxidative stress response, wall remodeling, photosynthesis inhibition, expression regulation, ribosome biogenesis, and post-translational modifications. The general characteristics of these responses are similar to those displayed by microgravity-exposed Arabidopsis thaliana seedlings. However, organ- and accession-specific components of the response dramatically differ both within and between species. These results suggest a need to directly evaluate candidate-crop responses to microgravity to better understand their specific adaptability to this novel environment and develop cultivation strategies allowing them to strive during spaceflight. Full article

For bounded linear operators defined on complex infinite-dimensional Banach space, H. Zariouh, in an article [1] introduced and studied the property $\left(gaz\right)$. In this study, through techniques using the local spectral theory of operators, we discover the sufficient conditions that allow the transfer of the property $\left(gaz\right)$ from two tensor factors $\mathcal{T}$ and $\mathcal{S}$ to their tensor product $\mathcal{T}\otimes \mathcal{S}$. The stability of the property $\left(gaz\right)$ in the tensor product under perturbations is also investigated. The theory is exemplified by considering suitable classes of operators such as shift operators, convolution operators, and m-invertible contractions. Full article

The essential oils were obtained by hydrodistillation from aerial parts of Mentha pulegium L. (M. pulegium L.) and Artemisia herba alba (A. herba alba) Asso. and analyzed by gas chromatography–flame ionization detector chromatograpy (GC–FID) and gaz chromatography–mass spectrometry (GC–MS). The antibacterial activities of the oils were determined by the disk diffusion method and a microdilution broth assay against six bacteria stains. The combinations of these essential oils with antibiotics were evaluated against two multi-drug-resistant bacteria strains: imipenem-resistant Acinetobacter baumannii (IRAB S3310) and methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA S19). The chemical analysis of M. pulegium essential oil revealed the presence of pulegone (74.8%) and neoisomenthol (10.0%). A. herba alba essential oil was characterized by camphor (32.0%), α-thujone (13.7%), 1,8-cineole (9.8%), β-thujone (5.0%), bornéol (3.8%), camphene (3.6%), and p-cymene (2.1%). All strains tested except Pseudomonas aeruginosa were susceptible to these oils. The combinations of essential oils with antibiotics exerted synergism, antagonism, or indifferent effects. The best effect was observed with A. herba alba essential oil in association with cefoxitin (CX) against MRSA S19. However, for IRAB S3310, the strongest synergistic effect was observed with M. pulegium in association with amikacin (AK). This study demonstrated that M. pulegium and A. herba alba essential oils have antibacterial activities which could be potentiated by antibiotics especially in the case of IRAB S3310. Full article

The addition of glycerol to protein solutions is often used to hinder the aggregation and denaturation of proteins. However, it is not a generalised practice against chemical degradation reactions. The chemical degradation of proteins, such as deamidation and isomerisation, is an important deteriorative mechanism that leads to a loss of functionality of pharmaceutical proteins. Here, the influence of glycerol on the chemical degradation of a protein and its correlation to glycerol-induced conformational changes is presented. The time-dependent chemical degradation of a pharmaceutical protein, GA-Z, in the absence and presence of glycerol was investigated in a stability study. The effect of glycerol on protein conformation and oligomerisation was characterised using asymmetric field-flow fractionation and small-angle neutron scattering in a wide glycerol concentration range of 0–90% v/v. The results from the stability study were connected to the observed glycerol-induced conformational changes in the protein. A correlation between protein conformation and the protective effect of glycerol against the degradation reactions deamidation, isomerisation, and hydrolysis was found. The study reveals that glycerol induces conformational changes of the protein, which favour a more compact and chemically stable state. It is also shown that the conformation can be changed by other system properties, e.g., protein concentration, leading to increased chemical stability. Full article

Dynamically developing urbanization causes a number of environmental effects, including those related to the chemical transformation of soils. Relatively less information about the urban areas of the Arctic and Subarctic zones, constructed mostly on permafrost and intensively populated areas can be found. By the example of the analysis of basic soil properties and concentrations of trace metals in the soils of the cities of Salekhard, Urengoy, Nadym, Novy Urengoy and Gaz Sale (the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous District), as well as various functional zones within the cities, the relationship between the age of the cities, the level of anthropogenic pressure and the type of parent materials and the character of accumulation of metals in the soil profile of urban soils have been described. The direct correlation was found between the content of Pb, Cr, Ni, As and soil sorption characteristics. In young cities built on sandy sediments, there is less accumulation of heavy metals in the topsoil horizons. Relatively higher concentrations of Cu and Cd were noted in soils of industrialized cities, regardless of functional zones. The higher content of Cr, Ni, Cu, Zn, As and Pb has been registered in older zones also frequently used for residential purposes. The calculated values of the PI index for some functional zones of young cities show the medium and high content of heavy metals. The analysis of Igeo and PLI indices shows a large diversity both in relation to individual cities and their functional zones. Soil quality, in spite of the high level of anthropogenic load, was assessed as mostly satisfactory. Full article

In this research, the idea of multicomponent, one-vessel cleaning of syngas through simultaneous dedusting and adsorption is described. Data presented were obtained with the use of a pilot-scale 60 kW_th fixed-bed GazEla reactor, coupled with a dry gas cleaning unit where mineral sorbents are injected into raw syngas at 500–650 °C, before dedusting at ceramic filters. The research primarily presents results of the application of four calcined sorbents, i.e., chalk (CaO), dolomite (MgO–CaO), halloysite (AlO–MgO–FeO), and kaolinite (AlO–MgO) for high-temperature (HT) adsorption of impurities contained in syngas from gasification of biomass. An emphasis on data regarding the stability of the filtration process is provided since the addition of coating and co-filtering materials is often necessary for keeping the filtration of syngas stable, in industrial applications. Full article

The Maïdo high-altitude observatory located in Reunion Island (21° S, 55.5° E) is equipped with the Lidar1200, an innovative Raman lidar designed to measure the water vapor mixing ratio in the troposphere and the lower stratosphere, to perform long-term survey and processes studies in the vicinity of the tropopause. The calibration methodology is based on a GNSS (Global Navigation Satellite System) IWV (Integrated Water Vapor) dataset. The lidar water vapor measurements from November 2013 to October 2015 have been calibrated according to this methodology and used to evaluate the performance of the lidar. The 2-year operation shows that the calibration uncertainty using the GNSS technique is in good agreement with the calibration derived using radiosondes. During the MORGANE (Maïdo ObservatoRy Gaz and Aerosols NDACC Experiment) campaign (Reunion Island, May 2015), CFH (Cryogenic Frost point Hygrometer) radiosonde and Raman lidar profiles are compared and show good agreement up to 22 km asl; no significant biases are detected and mean differences are smaller than 9% up to 22 km asl. Full article

Since agriculture directly contributes to global anthropogenic greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, integrating trees into agricultural landscapes through agroforestry systems is a viable adaptive strategy for climate change mitigation. The objective of this study was to evaluate the carbon (C) sequestration and financial benefits of C sequestration according to Quebec’s Cap-and-Trade System for Greenhouse Gas Emissions Allowances (C & T System) or the Système de plafonnement et d’échange de droits d’émission de gaz à effet de serre du Québec (SPEDE) program for two experimental 10-year-old tree-based intercropping (TBI) systems in southern Quebec, Canada. We estimated total C stored in the two TBI systems with hybrid poplar and hardwoods and adjacent non-TBI systems under agricultural production, considering soil, crop and crop roots, litterfall, tree and tree roots as C stocks. The C sequestration of the TBI and adjacent non-TBI systems were compared and the market value of the C payment was evaluated using the net present value (NPV) approach. The TBI systems had 33% to 36% more C storage than adjacent non-TBI systems. The financial benefits of C sequestration after 10 years of TBI practices amounted to of $2,259–$2,758 CAD ha⁻¹ and $1,568–$1,913 CAD ha⁻¹ for St. Edouard and St. Paulin sites, respectively. We conclude that valorizing the C sequestration of TBI systems could be an incentive to promote the establishment of TBI for the purpose of GHG mitigation in Quebec, Canada. Full article