Detection of small moving objects is an important research area with applications including monitoring of flying insects, studying their foraging behavior, using insect pollinators to monitor flowering and pollination of crops, surveillance of honeybee colonies, and tracking movement of honeybees. However, due to the lack of distinctive shape and textural details on small objects, direct application of modern object detection methods based on convolutional neural networks (CNNs) shows considerably lower performance. In this paper we propose a method for the detection of small moving objects in videos recorded using unmanned aerial vehicles equipped with standard video cameras. The main steps of the proposed method are video stabilization, background estimation and subtraction, frame segmentation using a CNN, and thresholding the segmented frame. However, for training a CNN it is required that a large labeled dataset is available. Manual labelling of small moving objects in videos is very difficult and time consuming, and such labeled datasets do not exist at the moment. To circumvent this problem, we propose training a CNN using synthetic videos generated by adding small blob-like objects to video sequences with real-world backgrounds. The experimental results on detection of flying honeybees show that by using a combination of classical computer vision techniques and CNNs, as well as synthetic training sets, the proposed approach overcomes the problems associated with direct application of CNNs to the given problem and achieves an average F1-score of 0.86 in tests on real-world videos.

This paper describes the usage of voltage VAr control (VVC) in closed loop mode (CLVVC). The focus is the application in single feeder radial distribution systems, where the CLVVC is executed in combination with short term load forecast (STLF) and distribution system state estimation (DSSE). Although well-known benefits, this paper especially deals with pitfalls and drawbacks of implementing and using closed loop.

Concurrently with the electrification of many segments of modern life, such as transport and heating, the problem of short term load forecasting becomes more actual and important. For each power system management, it is crucial to have parameters that display how much electricity is consumed and generated, so the estimation of future consumption can be developed. During the last years, short term load forecast is obtained by various methodologies; each presenting their advantages compared to the others. In this paper we investigate the feasibility of short term load forecasting using dynamic mode decomposition (DMD). The main idea is to model the consumption space as a linear dynamic system using the measured data. A test data-set is collected from 2009 to 2011 in Ireland, consumption of power was recorded every half hour, the experiments performed by manipulating data, and arranging it for easier application of the algorithm. It is shown that using timestamps with DMD provides easy and fast computation. The obtained results are proven to be promising and comparable with others from the literature.

This paper presents a model of dependence between the parameters of surface roughness and the parameters of cylindricity and eccentricity in drilling operation for the enhancing steel EN 42CrMo4, hardness 28 HRC, with twist drills DIN 338 made of high-speed steel EN HS6-5-2, with normal blade. The quality of machining, besides the accuracy of measures, completely determined with the values of the parameters of the surface roughness and the parameters of form and location, hence this paper is oriented to the creating models between parameters of the quality of a machined surface and parameters of deviations from form and position. By the developing models based on artificial neural networks and using experimental results, it is possible to analyse the quality of machining on the basis of parameters of a surface roughness.

Bosnia and Herzegovina (BIH) pear germplasm in the ex situ field collection at the University of Banja Luka was characterised with simple sequence repeat (SSR) markers in order to reveal redundancies, determine genetic diversity and confirm uniqueness. European pear (Pyrus communis L.) 67 accessions of the BIH collection and 7 reference cultivars of the ex situ collection at SLU in Balsgård, Sweden were analysed using a set of 10 SSR markers. All markers resulted in good amplification and easy scoring of marker alleles One-third of accessions appeared to be triploid. A total of 112 alleles were amplified in unique diploid genotypes with on average 11.2 alleles per marker. Mean observed heterozygosity (Ho) was 0.72, mean expected heterozygosity (He) – 0.80 and mean Shannon index (I) – 1.96. Inbreeding coefficient (FIT) for diploid accessions ranged from −0.06 to 0.28 (mean 0.02) and Wright’s inbreeding coefficient (FIS) – from −0.27 to 0.17 (mean −0.03). In the BIH pear collection, mean value of genetic differentiation (FST) between the reference cultivars and pear accessions was 0.05. Principal coordinate analysis (PCoA) divided the 74 pear accessions into three groups. The first group consisted of diploid, reference and possible triploid pear accessions, while the second and third groups contained only BIH possible triploid accessions. Overall, the results revealed high levels of polymorphism and uniqueness, indicating that BIH pear germplasm represents very diverse and valuable material for future breeding programmes.

ABSTRACT This article focuses on the role the Bosnian Serb Assembly played in the process of socially constructing Bosniaks as “Turks” during the period between October 1991 and December 1995. This process can be placed within the wider context of the genocidal policies pursued by agencies, institutions and organs under the sway of the assembly. The article argues that the assembly—both its individual members, and as an institution—played a central role not only in determining policies that ultimately led to genocide, but also in the process of reconceptualization of Bosniaks as cultural aliens whose very existence presented a mortal threat to the existence of the Serb people.

Methylation marks of exposure to health risk factors may be useful markers of cancer risk as they might better capture current and past exposures than questionnaires, and reflect different individual responses to exposure. We used data from seven case‐control studies nested within the Melbourne Collaborative Cohort Study of blood DNA methylation and risk of colorectal, gastric, kidney, lung, prostate and urothelial cancer, and B‐cell lymphoma (N cases = 3123). Methylation scores (MS) for smoking, body mass index (BMI), and alcohol consumption were calculated based on published data as weighted averages of methylation values. Rate ratios (RR) and 95% confidence intervals for association with cancer risk were estimated using conditional logistic regression and expressed per SD increase of the MS, with and without adjustment for health‐related confounders. The contribution of MS to discriminate cases from controls was evaluated using the area under the curve (AUC). After confounder adjustment, we observed: large associations (RR = 1.5‐1.7) with lung cancer risk for smoking MS; moderate associations (RR = 1.2‐1.3) with urothelial cancer risk for smoking MS and with mature B‐cell neoplasm risk for BMI and alcohol MS; moderate to small associations (RR = 1.1‐1.2) for BMI and alcohol MS with several cancer types and cancer overall. Generally small AUC increases were observed after inclusion of several MS in the same model (colorectal, gastric, kidney, urothelial cancers: +3%; lung cancer: +7%; B‐cell neoplasms: +8%). Methylation scores for smoking, BMI and alcohol consumption show independent associations with cancer risk, and may provide some improvements in risk prediction.

Lysine-selective molecular tweezers are promising drug candidates against proteinopathies, viral infection, and bacterial biofilm. Despite demonstration of their efficacy in multiple cellular and animal models, important questions regarding their mechanism of action, including cell penetrance and intracellular distribution, have not been answered to date. The main impediment to answering these questions has been the low intrinsic fluorescence of the main compound tested to date, called CLR01. Here, we address these questions using new fluorescently labeled molecular tweezers derivatives. We show that these compounds are internalized in neurons and astrocytes, at least partially through dynamin-dependent endocytosis. In addition, we demonstrate that the molecular tweezers concentrate rapidly in acidic compartments, primarily lysosomes. Accumulation of molecular tweezers in lysosomes may occur both through the endosomal-lysosomal pathway and via the autophagy-lysosome pathway. Moreover, by visualizing colocalization of molecular tweezers, lysosomes, and tau aggregates we show that lysosomes likely are the main site for the intracellular anti-amyloid activity of molecular tweezers. These findings have important implications for the mechanism of action of molecular tweezers in vivo, explaining how administration of low doses of the compounds achieves high effective concentrations where they are needed, and supporting the development of these compounds as drugs for currently cureless proteinopathies. Li et al. design and synthesize fluorescently labeled molecular tweezers to explore their internalization, intracellular localization, and mechanism of endocytosis in brain cells including neurons and astrocytes. The authors find that MTs are internalized in neurons and astrocytes, at least partially through dynamin-dependent endocytosis, and concentrate rapidly in acidic compartments, primarily lysosomes.

In this research an electrochemical technique in combination with powdered activated carbon (PAC) for the removal of micropollutants by adsorption as an advanced stage purification step from effluents of pilot plant wastewater treatment plants (WWTP). The effluents of sedimentation tank comprised of wastewater plus PAC (WWPAC). The pilot plant mainly consists of two parts; the first one consists of electrocoagulation (EC) reactor and the second consists of electrophoretic deposition (EPD) discs and electroflotation (EF) setup. The electrocoagulation (EC) reactor is a fiber box consisting of two chambers and thirty four plates of one material (either Fe or Al) on the whole in one EC reactor while one cell has seventeen plates. Both types of electrodes have been tested with the outflow of sedimentation tank. The outflow from the sedimentation tank has been entered into the EC reactor for the determination of EC reactor efficacy for the successful accomplishment of EC process at the designed pilot plant for WW treatment. The effect of different operational parameters; PAC dosage (20 mg), electrode nature (Fe and Al), current density (0.34–2.02 A/m2) has been studied to find out the optimum conditions. Sludge volume index (SVI) of the sludge, thermogravimetric (TG), differential thermal analyses (DTA) and particle size distribution (PSD) of the flocs generated after the EC process has also been studied. The turbidity, pH and conductivity of effluents before and after EC treatment has also been carried out. This pilot plant research gave promising results for future work in advance wastewater treatment direction.

We evaluated the performance of 11 SARS-CoV-2 antibody tests using a reference set of heat-inactivated samples from 278 unexposed persons and 258 COVID-19 patients, some of whom contributed serial samples. The reference set included samples with a variation in SARS-CoV-2 IgG antibody titers, as determined by an in-house immunofluorescence assay (IFA). The five evaluated rapid diagnostic tests had a specificity of 99.0% and a sensitivity that ranged from 56.3 to 81.6% and decreased with low IFA IgG titers. The specificity was > 99% for five out of six platform-based tests, and when assessed using samples collected ≥ 22 days after symptom onset, two assays had a sensitivity of > 96%. These two assays also detected samples with low IFA titers more frequently than the other assays. In conclusion, the evaluated antibody tests showed a heterogeneity in their performances and only a few tests performed well with samples having low IFA IgG titers, an important aspect for diagnostics and epidemiological investigations.

Im Rahmen dieses Aufsatzes werden einige wichtige Aspekte des ästhetischen Lernens bei der transkulturellen Vermittlung von Literatur dargestellt, mit dem Ziel zu zeigen, wie die systematische Interpretation ausgezeichneter literarischer Werke in der Ausbildung von Lehrenden zur humanistischen Bildung bzw. transkulturellen Vermittlung humanistischer Werte beiträgt, während gleichzeitig die Sprachkompetenzen der Lernenden gefördert werden. Die vorliegende Untersuchung fand im Rahmen eines universitären Unterrichtsprojektes statt. Sie zeigt auf, wie die ästhetische Erfahrung bei der literarischen Übersetzung durch den spielerischen Umgang mit Sprache ermöglicht wird sowie durch die Auseinandersetzung mit gelungenen sprachlich vermittelten Bildern, Sinnbildern und Metaphern, die nicht unbedingt kulturologisch geprägt sind, sondern vielmehr mit der Transformation von der persönlichen zur universal-menschlichen Erfahrung zu tun haben.

Purpose This paper aims to examine the state of the art in electronic records management (ERM) with the goal of identifying the prevailing research topics, gaps and issues in the field. Design/methodology/approach First, a wide search was performed on academic research databases, limited to the period between 2008–2018. Second, the search results were reviewed for relevance and duplicates. Finally, the study sources were checked against the list of journals and conferences ranked by computing research and education and JourQual. The final sample of 55 selected studies was analyzed in depth. Findings ERM has lost some research momentum due to being deeply embedded in affiliate information systems areas and the changing records management landscape. Additionally, the requirement models specified by Governmental/National Archives might have constrained technology innovation in ERM. A lack of application was identified for the social media research area. Research limitations/implications Limitations were encountered in available search tool functionality and keyword confusion leading to inflated search results. While effort has been made to obtain optimal search results, some relevant articles may have been omitted. Originality/value The last ERM state-of-the-art review was in 1997. A lot has changed since then. This paper will help researchers understand the current state of ERM research, its understudied areas and identify gaps for future studies.

Maintaining item banks that continually reflect the measured construct can be achieved through periodically removing obsolete items and adding validated items.