Agriculture in Brazilian Amazonia is going through a period of intensification. Crop mapping is important in understanding the way this intensification is occurring and the impact it is having. Two ...successive classifications based on MODIS (MODerate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer)-TERRA/EVI (Enhanced Vegetation Index) time series are applied (1) to map agricultural areas and (2) to identify five crop classes. These classes represent agricultural practices involving three commercial crops (soybean, maize and cotton) planted in single or double cropping systems. Both classifications are based on five steps: (1) analysis of the MODIS/EVI time series, (2) application of a smoothing algorithm, (3) application of a feature selection/extraction process to reduce the data set dimensionality, (4) application of a classifier and (5) application of a post-classification treatment. The first classification detected 95% of the agricultural areas (5 617 250 ha during the 2006–2007 harvest) and correlation coefficients with agricultural statistics exceeded 0.98 for the three crop classes at municipality level. The second classification (overall accuracy = 74% and kappa index = 0.675) allowed us to obtain the spatial variability mapping of agricultural practices in the state of Mato Grosso. A total of 30% of the total planted area was cultivated through double cropping systems, especially along the BR163 highway and in the Parecis plateau region.
As high-performance computing designs become increasingly complex, the importance of evaluating with simulation also grows. One of the most critical aspects of distributed computing design is the ...network architecture; different topologies and bandwidths have dramatic impacts on the overall performance of the system and should be explored to find the optimal design point. This work uses simulations developed to run in the existing Structural Simulation Toolkit v12.1.0 software framework to show that for a hypothetical test case, more complicated network topologies have better overall performance and performance improves with increased bandwidth, making them worth the additional design effort and expense. Specifically, the test case HyperX topology is shown to outperform the next best evaluated topology by thirty percent and is the only topology that did not experience diminishing performance gains with increased bandwidth.
The COVID-19 pandemic caused >1 million infections during January-March 2020. There is an urgent need for reliable antibody detection approaches to support diagnosis, vaccine development, safe ...release of individuals from quarantine, and population lock-down exit strategies. We set out to evaluate the performance of ELISA and lateral flow immunoassay (LFIA) devices.
We tested plasma for COVID (severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2; SARS-CoV-2) IgM and IgG antibodies by ELISA and using nine different LFIA devices. We used a panel of plasma samples from individuals who have had confirmed COVID infection based on a PCR result (n=40), and pre-pandemic negative control samples banked in the UK prior to December-2019 (n=142).
ELISA detected IgM or IgG in 34/40 individuals with a confirmed history of COVID infection (sensitivity 85%, 95%CI 70-94%), vs. 0/50 pre-pandemic controls (specificity 100% 95%CI 93-100%). IgG levels were detected in 31/31 COVID-positive individuals tested ≥10 days after symptom onset (sensitivity 100%, 95%CI 89-100%). IgG titres rose during the 3 weeks post symptom onset and began to fall by 8 weeks, but remained above the detection threshold. Point estimates for the sensitivity of LFIA devices ranged from 55-70% versus RT-PCR and 65-85% versus ELISA, with specificity 95-100% and 93-100% respectively. Within the limits of the study size, the performance of most LFIA devices was similar.
Currently available commercial LFIA devices do not perform sufficiently well for individual patient applications. However, ELISA can be calibrated to be specific for detecting and quantifying SARS-CoV-2 IgM and IgG and is highly sensitive for IgG from 10 days following first symptoms.
With the complexity of high-performance computing designs continuously increasing, the importance of evaluating with simulation also grows. One of the key design aspects is the network architecture; ...topology and bandwidth greatly influence the overall performance and should be optimized. This work uses simulations written to run in the Structural Simulation Toolkit software framework to evaluate a variety of architecture configurations, identify the optimal design point based on expected workload, and evaluate the changes with increased scale. The results show that advanced topologies outperform legacy architectures justifying the additional design complexity; and that after a certain point increasing the bandwidth provides limited additional benefit, indicating resources should be spent improving other aspects of the design.
Standard model of mind: Episodic Memory Kelley, Troy Dale; Thomson, Robert; Milton, Jonathan R.
Procedia computer science,
2018, 2018-00-00, Letnik:
145
Journal Article, Conference Proceeding
Recenzirano
Odprti dostop
Episodic memory is a critical component of any computational representation of cognition. While declarative and procedural memory have been extensively studied by the cognitive modeling community, ...episodic memory has only recently been considered as an important component of cognitive architecture (CA) development. Human neurological evidence supports the concept that memory is stored in the mind in different forms and locations, with episodic memory being critical for learning temporal sequences of events and associating context to learned information. Recent neurological evidence supports the idea that episodic memory is distinct from semantic memory and procedural memory. This paper reviews the current research on episodic memory in neurology and CAs and argues for its inclusion in the Standard Model of Mind.
In Footnotes to Sappho I explore the poetry of three of the most influential poets of the Hellenistic period: Erinna, Anyte, and Nossis. Very little of their works survived to the present day; ...consequently these poets are largely ignored by the scholarly community. Those scholars who do study the female poets tend to understand them as women first and poets second, assuming that their works can inform our understanding of the lives of women in the ancient world. In this dissertation I argue that this understanding impedes our ability to interpret their poetry and attempt to correct this by reading their poems as poems rather than as biographical evidence. Each chapter provides an examination of one author's life and works, beginning with a discussion of ancient testimonia. In the first chapter, "Erinna," I examine the poetry of the fourth-century BCE poet Erinna, whose life, homeland, and date are shrouded in mystery, and even the number of her works is disputed. In both sections, one on her epigrams and one on her famous yet fragmentary work, the Distaff I examine the ways in which Erinna establishes two oppositions: movement/stasis and performance/text. The next chapter, "Anyte," examines the ways in which Anyte takes advantage of new developments in poetry in order to expand the possibilities for epigrammatic poetry. Anyte exploits the separation of epigram from its inscriptional beginnings by composing poems that never would have been inscribed, such as epitaphs for insects. I argue that many of her epigrams are interrelated and share themes and motifs and that this is evidence of an author (perhaps the first) who wrote poems specifically for a collection. The final chapter, "Nossis," explores the twelve epigrams of the poet Nossis, focusing on her use of polemic to reject men from her potential readership. This rejection is tongue-in-cheek, as an author cannot control who reads a text. Nossis' poetry also illustrates the lack of performance in epigram by configuring a series of poems as a partheneion. Like Erinna and Anyte before her, Nossis is her own poet and deserves to be read as such.
Este artigo discute uma metodologia para a classificação sistemática do uso e cobertura do solo em escala regional e para períodos extensos de tempo. O cerne desta metodologia está baseado no ...trabalho descrito em JONATHAN et al. (2005, 2006) e se fundamenta na análise de dados multitemporais provenientes do sensor MODIS (Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer), o qual se encontra a bordo dos satélites Terra e Aqua da NASA e apresenta propriedades de alta freqüência temporal, extensa cobertura, e baixíssimo custo para aquisição de dados. Neste trabalho, realizou-se uma avaliação dos maiores potenciais e possíveis impedimentos da aplicação desta metodologia para o monitoramento plurianual do uso e cobertura do solo, concluindo-se ser de fato viável monitorar grandes regiões por longos períodos de tempo com baixo custo e altos níveis de automação. Neste sentido, tomou-se como área de estudos a Bacia do Alto Taquari, localizada nos estados de Mato Grosso do Sul e Mato Grosso, de forma a se enfatizar a relevância da aplicação desta abordagem para a detecção e quantificação de fenômenos como o desflorestamento e a dinâmica agrícola, que são por sua vez essenciais para o melhor entendimento dos principais processos de degradação relacionados ao ecossistema do Pantanal.
Este artigo discute uma metodologia para a classificação sistemática do uso e cobertura do solo em escala regional e para períodos extensos de tempo. O cerne desta metodologia está baseado no ...trabalho descrito em JONATHAN et al. (2005, 2006) e se fundamenta na análise de dados multitemporais provenientes do sensor MODIS (Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer), o qual se encontra a bordo dos satélites Terra e Aqua da NASA e apresenta propriedades de alta freqüência temporal, extensa cobertura, e baixíssimo custo para aquisição de dados. Neste trabalho, realizou-se uma avaliação dos maiores potenciais e possíveis impedimentos da aplicação desta metodologia para o monitoramento plurianual do uso e cobertura do solo, concluindo-se ser de fato viável monitorar grandes regiões por longos períodos de tempo com baixo custo e altos níveis de automação. Neste sentido, tomou-se como área de estudos a Bacia do Alto Taquari, localizada nos estados de Mato Grosso do Sul e Mato Grosso, de forma a se enfatizar a relevância da aplicação desta abordagem para a detecção e quantificação de fenômenos como o desflorestamento e a dinâmica agrícola, que são por sua vez essenciais para o melhor entendimento dos principais processos de degradação relacionados ao ecossistema do Pantanal.
Recently there has been a growing interest in using robots in activities that are dangerous or cost prohibitive for humans to do. Such activities include military uses and space exploration. While ...robotic hardware is often capable of being used in these types of situations, the ability of human operators to control robots in an effective manner is often limited. This deficiency is often related to the control interface of the robot and the level of autonomy that control system affords the human operator. This thesis describes a robot control system, called the safe/unsafe system, which gives a human operator the ability to quickly define how the system can cause the robot to automatically perform obstacle avoidance. This definition system uses interactive machine learning to ensure that the obstacle avoidance is both easy for a human operator to use and can perform well in different environments. Initial, real world tests show that system is effective at automatic obstacle avoidance.
This paper discusses a methodology for the systematic classification of land use/land cover on a regional scale and over a period of several years. The basis of this methodology has been presented ...earlier by JONATHAN et al. (2005, 2006) and is centered on multitemporal analyses of data from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS), which is located on board NASA’s Terra and Aqua satellites and features high temporal frequency, extensive coverage, and extremely low costs for data acquisition. In this article, special emphasis is given to the evaluation of the possibilities and potential hindrances regarding the use of such a methodology for the pluriannual monitoring of land use and land cover. It is concluded that the monitoring of large regions for an extended period of time with low cost and high levels of automation is indeed a viable proposition. In this sense, the High Taquari Basin, located in the states of Mato Grosso do Sul and Mato Grosso, Brazil, is used as a study area for the analyses, so as to point out the relevance of the approach for detecting and quantifying phenomena such as deforestation and agriculture dynamics, which are themselves essential for the better understanding of the degradation processes within the Pantanal ecosystem.
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