Efficiency and effectiveness of systems for the treatment of domestic wastewater based on subsurface flow constructed wetlands in Jarabacoa, Dominican Republic

Constructed wetlands(CwW)are well known nature-based systems for water treatment.This study evaluated the efficiency and effectiveness of seven domestic wastewater treatment systems based on horizontal flow CWs in Jarabacoa,the Dominican Republic.The results showed that the CWs were efficient in reducing the degree of contamination of wastewater to levels below the Dominican wastewater discharge standards for parameters such as the 5-day biochemical oxygen demand(BOD5)and chemical oxygen demand,but not for the removal of phosphorus and fecal coliforms.In addition,a horizontal flow subsurface wetland in the peri-urban area El Dorado was evaluated in terms of the performance of wastewater treatment in tropical climatic conditions.The concentrations of heavy metals,such as zinc,copper,chromium,and iron,were found to decrease in the effluent of the wetland,and the concentrations for nickel and manganese tended to increase.The levels of heavy metals in the effluent were lower than the limit values of the Dominican wastewater discharge standards.The construction cost of these facilities was around 200 USD per population equivalent,similar to the cost in other countries in the same region.This study suggested some solutions to the improved performance of CWs:selection of a microbial flora that guarantees the reduction of nitrates and nitrites to molecular nitrogen,use of endemic plants that bioaccumulate heavy metals,combination of constructed wetlands with filtration on activated carbon,and inclusion of water purification processes that allow to evaluate the reuse of treated water.

Seasonal response of nitrogen exchange fluxes to crab disturbance at sediment-water interface in coastal tidal wetlands

Coastal wetlands are hotspots for nitrogen(N)cycling,and crab burrowing is known to transform N in intertidal marsh soils.However,the underlying mechanisms remain unclear.This study conducted field experiments and used indoor control test devices to investigate the seasonal response of nitrogen to crab disturbance at the sediment-water interface in coastal tidal flat wetlands.The results showed that crab disturbance exhibited significant seasonality with large seasonal differences in cave density and depth.Due to crab disturbance,nitrogen fuxes at the sediment-water interface were much greater in the box with crabs than in the box without crabs.In summer,NH-N showed a positive flux from the sediment to the overlying water,but NO2-N and NOg-N showed positive fluxes from the sediment to the overlying water only in early stages.In winter,NH-N showed a positive flux from the sediment to the overlying water,but NO-N and NO,-N both exhibited positive and negative fluxes.These results indicated that the presence of crab burrows can cause the aerobic layer to move downward by approximately 8-15 cm in summer and directly promote nitrification at the sediment surface.

基于YOLO5Face重分布的小尺度人脸检测方法

针对复杂场景下小尺度人脸检测精度较低的问题,提出了一种基于YOLO5Face重分布的小尺度人脸检测方法。方法以YOLO5Face为基础,在网络浅层引入改进的CBAM注意力并对模型计算重分布,提升复杂场景下小尺度人脸检测精度的同时降低模型参数量;采用融合mixup的数据增强方法,充分训练模型小尺度人脸检测分支;依据人脸检测特性,将softmax损失作为分类损失以最大化类间特征的差异。在WiderFace各个子集上的实验结果表明,与主流人脸检测方法相比,改进后的模型满足实时性的同时,小尺度人脸检测精度较高,其中Hard子集检测精度比YOLO5Face提升2个百分点。

VR/AR-AdaptFace:面向虚拟现实与增强现实的自适应多模态面部替换模型

随着VR/AR技术的迅猛发展,用户对于沉浸式体验的需求日益增长。同时,虚拟人脸技术亦趋成熟。基于此,本文探索将高度拟真的虚拟人脸融入VR/AR,以增强用户体验的自然度与沉浸感。然而,在虚拟数字人领域,图像生成及换脸技术在VR/AR环境下仍遇诸多挑战,尤其是唇形合成模型在动态场景及多语言环境下的性能需进一步优化。为解决上述问题,本文提出VR/AR-AdaptFace模型,一个面向虚拟现实与增强现实的自适应多模态面部替换方案。该模型由两大模块构成:“文颜绘真”模块,采用先进的文本至图像转换技术和特定类别先验保存策略,优化虚拟人脸生成,并通过注意力机制大幅提升图像质量;“语唇映生”模块,依托强大的生成器、唇形同步判别器及视觉质量判别器,实现语音与唇形的精准同步,为VR/AR场景中的动态交互带来更加逼真的体验。

Significance of Primary Treatment Selection in the Efficiency of Wastewater Treatment in Constructed Wetlands (CWs)

This research explores strategies to enhance the efficiency of secondary treatment in Vertical Flow Constructed Wetlands (CW) in Montenegro. The focus is on selecting appropriate primary treatment methods alongside three distinct substrate types to improve wastewater treatment efficacy. The study examines the combination of two primary treatments with different substrate types in constructed wetlands (CW1, CW2, and CW3). The primary treatments include the existing wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) in Podgorica, involving coarse material removal through screens, inert material separation in aerated sand traps, and sediment and suspended matter removal in primary sedimentation tanks. The Extreme Separator (ExSep) was employed to evaluate its efficacy as a primary treatment method. The research demonstrates that the efficiency of CW can be significantly enhanced by selecting suitable primary treatment methods and substrates in Podgorica’s conditions. The most promising results were achieved by combining ExSep as a primary treatment with secondary treatment in CW-3. The removal efficiencies after CW3 for COD, BOD, and TSS exceeded 89%, 93%, and 91%, respectively. The outcomes underscore the significance of primary treatment in mitigating pollutant loads before discharge into the constructed wetlands, emphasizing potential areas for further optimization in wastewater treatment practices to enhance environmental sustainability and water quality management.

基于SSD与FaceNet的人脸识别系统设计

人脸识别技术广泛应用于考勤管理、移动支付等智慧建设中。伴随着常态化的口罩干扰,传统人脸识别算法已无法满足实际应用需求,为此,本文利用深度学习模型SSD以及FaceNet模型对人脸识别系统展开设计。首先,为消除现有数据集中亚洲人脸占比小造成的类内间距变化差距不明显的问题,在CAS-IA Web Face公开数据集的基础上对亚洲人脸数据进行扩充;其次,为解决不同口罩样式对特征提取的干扰,使用SSD人脸检测模型与DLIB人脸关键点检测模型提取人脸关键点,并利用人脸关键点与口罩的空间位置关系,额外随机生成不同的口罩人脸,组成混合数据集;最后,在混合数据集上进行模型训练并将训练好的模型移植到人脸识别系统中,进行检测速度与识别精度验证。实验结果表明,系统的实时识别速度达20 fps以上,人脸识别模型准确率在构建的混合数据集中达到97.1%,在随机抽取的部分LFW数据集验证的准确率达99.7%,故而该系统可满足实际应用需求,在一定程度上提高人脸识别的鲁棒性与准确性。

Stability analysis of tunnel face reinforced with face bolts

Face bolting has been widely utilized to enhance the stability of tunnel face,particularly in soft soil tunnels.However,the influence of bolt reinforcement and its layout on tunnel face stability has not been systematically studied.Based on the theory of linear elastic mechanics,this study delved into the specific mechanisms of bolt reinforcement on the tunnel face in both horizontal and vertical dimensions.It also identified the primary failure types of bolts.Additionally,a design approach for tunnel face bolts that incorporates spatial layout was established using the limit equilibrium method to enhance the conventional wedge-prism model.The proposed model was subsequently validated through various means,and the specific influence of relevant bolt design parameters on tunnel face stability was analyzed.Furthermore,design principles for tunnel face bolts under different geological conditions were presented.The findings indicate that bolt failure can be categorized into three stages:tensile failure,pullout failure,and comprehensive failure.Increasing cohesion,internal friction angle,bolt density,and overlap length can effectively enhance tunnel face stability.Due to significant variations in stratum conditions,tailored design approaches based on specific failure stages are necessary for bolt design.

基于改进YOLOv5s-face的Face5系列人脸检测算法

针对人脸检测中小尺度人脸和遮挡人脸的漏检问题,提出了一种基于改进YOLOv5s-face(you only look once version 5 small-face)的Face5系列人脸检测算法Face5S(face5 small)和Face5M(face5 medium)。使用马赛克(mosaic)和图像混合(mixup)数据增强方法,提升算法在复杂场景下检测人脸的泛化性和稳定性;通过改进C3的网络结构和引入可变形卷积(DCNv2)降低算法的参数量,提高算法提取特征的灵活性;通过引入特征的内容感知重组上采样算子(CARAFE),提高多尺度人脸的检测性能;引入损失函数WIoUV3(wise intersection over union version 3),提升算法的小尺度人脸检测性能。实验结果表明,在WIDER FACE验证集上,相较于YOLOv5s-face算法,Face5S算法的平均mAP@0.5提升了1.03%;相较于先进的人脸检测算法ASFD-D3(automatic and scalable face detector-D3)和TinaFace,Face5M算法的平均mAP@0.5分别提升了1.07%和2.11%,提出的Face5系列算法能够有效提升算法对小尺度和部分遮挡人脸的检测性能,同时具有实时性。

Seasonal Abundance and Diversity of Birds of Prey and Owls in Al Wathba Wetland Reserve in Abu Dhabi, UAE

Inland wetlands in Abu Dhabi Emirate are wintering and stopover sites for migratory birds of prey. We conducted long-term regular monitoring surveys in Al Wathba Wetland Reserve (AWWR) from January 1995 to December 2022. Both diurnal and occasionally nocturnal surveys were undertaken to record the migratory raptors and owls in the Wetland Reserve. During the study, a total of 1282 regular monitoring visits were undertaken and 27 species of diurnal raptors and owls representing five families and three orders were detected. These represent 57% of the total species of birds of prey recorded in the UAE. Overall, 63% of all the species that we observed were Accipitriformes followed by 26% Falconiformes and 11% Strigiformes. We found that changes in mean daily temperature have a positive effect on raptor species diversity and abundance in the Wetland Reserve. The species encounter rate was higher in low temperature as compared to high temperature and overall regression equation was statistically significant F (4, 1126) = 8.49), p = 0.00). However, the numbers of raptors did not vary significantly across the years (p = 0.51). Western Marsh-harrier (Circus aeruginosus) and Greater Spotted Eagle (Clanga clanga) were recorded to be the most abundant species in the wetland reserve followed by Common Kestrel (Falco tinnunculus). However, the encounter rate of globally threatened Greater Spotted Eagle was detected to have significantly decreased since 2016. Moreover, 63% of the species detected were uncommon and rarely recorded such as 1) Saker Falcon 2) Lanner Falcon 3) Long-eared Owl & Merlin, which were the rare records from the wetland reserve. Furthermore, 27 years of regular monitoring in the wetland have yielded diverse diurnal raptors and owl fauna (H) = 0.83, (E) = 1.43 (Shannon Diversity Index). The results demonstrate that long-term monitoring surveys in arid environments are essential to determine the trends in the raptor populations and to document rare and globally important species.

Impact of Sky Conditions on Net Ecosystem Productivity over a “Floating Blanket” Wetland in Southwest China

Based on eddy covariance(EC) measurements during 2016–20, the effects of sky conditions on the net ecosystem productivity(NEP) over a subtropical “floating blanket ” wetland were investigated. Sky conditions were divided into overcast, cloudy, and sunny conditions. On the half-hourly timescale, the daytime NEP responded more rapidly to the changes in the total photosynthetic active radiation(PARt) under overcast and cloudy skies than that under sunny skies. The increase in the apparent quantum yield under overcast and cloudy conditions was the greatest in spring and the least in summer. Additionally, lower atmospheric vapor pressure deficit(VPD) and moderate air temperature were more conducive to enhancing the apparent quantum yield under cloudy skies. On the daily timescale, NEP and the gross primary production(GPP) were higher under cloudy or sunny conditions than those under overcast conditions across seasons. The daily NEP and GPP during the wet season peaked under cloudy skies. The daily ecosystem light use efficiency(LUE) and water use efficiency(WUE) during the wet season also changed with sky conditions and reached their maximum under overcast and cloudy skies, respectively. The diffuse photosynthetic active radiation(PAR_d) and air temperature were primarily responsible for the variation of daily NEP from half-hourly to monthly timescales, and the direct photosynthetic active radiation(PAR_b) had a secondary effect on NEP. Under sunny conditions, PAR_b and air temperature were the dominant factors controlling daily NEP. While daily NEP was mainly controlled by PAR_d under cloudy and overcast conditions.

Sparse representation scheme with enhanced medium pixel intensity for face recognition

Sparse representation is an effective data classification algorithm that depends on the known training samples to categorise the test sample.It has been widely used in various image classification tasks.Sparseness in sparse representation means that only a few of instances selected from all training samples can effectively convey the essential class-specific information of the test sample,which is very important for classification.For deformable images such as human faces,pixels at the same location of different images of the same subject usually have different intensities.Therefore,extracting features and correctly classifying such deformable objects is very hard.Moreover,the lighting,attitude and occlusion cause more difficulty.Considering the problems and challenges listed above,a novel image representation and classification algorithm is proposed.First,the authors’algorithm generates virtual samples by a non-linear variation method.This method can effectively extract the low-frequency information of space-domain features of the original image,which is very useful for representing deformable objects.The combination of the original and virtual samples is more beneficial to improve the clas-sification performance and robustness of the algorithm.Thereby,the authors’algorithm calculates the expression coefficients of the original and virtual samples separately using the sparse representation principle and obtains the final score by a designed efficient score fusion scheme.The weighting coefficients in the score fusion scheme are set entirely automatically.Finally,the algorithm classifies the samples based on the final scores.The experimental results show that our method performs better classification than conventional sparse representation algorithms.

The Relation between Mental Workload and Face Temperature in Flight Simulation

In this research, we study the relationship between mental workload and facial temperature of aircraft participants during a simulated takeoff flight. We conducted experiments to comprehend the correlation between work and facial temperature within the flight simulator. The experiment involved a group of 10 participants who played the role of pilots in a simulated A-320 flight. Six different flying scenarios were designed to simulate normal and emergency situations on airplane takeoff that would occur in different levels of mental workload for the participants. The measurements were workload assessment, face temperatures, and heart rate monitoring. Throughout the experiments, we collected a total of 120 instances of takeoffs, together with over 10 hours of time-series data including heart rate, workload, and face thermal images and temperatures. Comparative analysis of EEG data and thermal image types, revealed intriguing findings. The results indicate a notable inverse relationship between workload and facial muscle temperatures, as well as facial landmark points. The results of this study contribute to a deeper understanding of the physiological effects of workload, as well as practical implications for aviation safety and performance.

Learning to represent 2D human face with mathematical model

How to represent a human face pattern?While it is presented in a continuous way in human visual system,computers often store and process it in a discrete manner with 2D arrays of pixels.The authors attempt to learn a continuous surface representation for face image with explicit function.First,an explicit model(EmFace)for human face representation is pro-posed in the form of a finite sum of mathematical terms,where each term is an analytic function element.Further,to estimate the unknown parameters of EmFace,a novel neural network,EmNet,is designed with an encoder-decoder structure and trained from massive face images,where the encoder is defined by a deep convolutional neural network and the decoder is an explicit mathematical expression of EmFace.The authors demonstrate that our EmFace represents face image more accurate than the comparison method,with an average mean square error of 0.000888,0.000936,0.000953 on LFW,IARPA Janus Benchmark-B,and IJB-C datasets.Visualisation results show that,EmFace has a higher representation performance on faces with various expressions,postures,and other factors.Furthermore,EmFace achieves reasonable performance on several face image processing tasks,including face image restoration,denoising,and transformation.

Inverse reliability analysis and design for tunnel face stability considering soil spatial variability

The traditional deterministic analysis for tunnel face stability neglects the uncertainties of geotechnical parameters,while the simplified reliability analysis which models the potential uncertainties by means of random variables usually fails to account for soil spatial variability.To overcome these limitations,this study proposes an efficient framework for conducting reliability analysis and reliability-based design(RBD)of tunnel face stability in spatially variable soil strata.The three-dimensional(3D)rotational failure mechanism of the tunnel face is extended to account for the soil spatial variability,and a probabilistic framework is established by coupling the extended mechanism with the improved Hasofer-Lind-Rackwits-Fiessler recursive algorithm(iHLRF)as well as its inverse analysis formulation.The proposed framework allows for rapid and precise reliability analysis and RBD of tunnel face stability.To demonstrate the feasibility and efficacy of the proposed framework,an illustrative case of tunnelling in frictional soils is presented,where the soil's cohesion and friction angle are modelled as two anisotropic cross-correlated lognormal random fields.The results show that the proposed method can accurately estimate the failure probability(or reliability index)regarding the tunnel face stability and can efficiently determine the required supporting pressure for a target reliability index with soil spatial variability being taken into account.Furthermore,this study reveals the impact of various factors on the support pressure,including coefficient of variation,cross-correlation between cohesion and friction angle,as well as autocorrelation distance of spatially variable soil strata.The results also demonstrate the feasibility of using the forward and/or inverse first-order reliability method(FORM)in high-dimensional stochastic problems.It is hoped that this study may provide a practical and reliable framework for determining the stability of tunnels in complex soil strata.

Face animation based on multiple sources and perspective alignment

Background Face image animation generates a synthetic human face video that harmoniously integrates the identity derived from the source image and facial motion obtained from the driving video.This technology could be beneficial in multiple medical fields,such as diagnosis and privacy protection.Previous studies on face animation often relied on a single source image to generate an output video.With a significant pose difference between the source image and the driving frame,the quality of the generated video is likely to be suboptimal because the source image may not provide sufficient features for the warped feature map.Methods In this study,we propose a novel face-animation scheme based on multiple sources and perspective alignment to address these issues.We first introduce a multiple-source sampling and selection module to screen the optimal source image set from the provided driving video.We then propose an inter-frame interpolation and alignment module to further eliminate the misalignment between the selected source image and the driving frame.Conclusions The proposed method exhibits superior performance in terms of objective metrics and visual quality in large-angle animation scenes compared to other state-of-the-art face animation methods.It indicates the effectiveness of the proposed method in addressing the distortion issues in large-angle animation.

Activity Pattern and Habitat Use of Shorebirds in an Artificial Wetland Complex:A Case Study of Breeding Pied Avocet in the Yellow River Delta,China

With the loss of substantial natural wetlands in coastal zones,artificial wetlands provide alternative habitats for many shorebirds.Scientific management of artificial wetlands used by shorebirds plays an important role in maintaining the stability of shorebird population.Satellite tracking technique can obtain high-precision location information of individuals day and night,providing a good technical support for the study of quantitative relationship between waterfowls and their habitats.In this study,satellite tracking method,Remote Sensing(RS)and Geographic Information System(GIS)technology were used to analyze the activity pattern and habitat utilization characteristics of Pied Avocet during breeding period in an artificial wetland complex in the Yellow River Delta(YRD),China.The results showed that the breeding Pied Avocets had a small range of activity,with a total core and main home range of 33.10 km^(2) and 216.30 km^(2),respectively.This species tended to forage in the pond and salt pan during the day and night,respectively,with an unfixed staying time in the breeding ground.The distance between breeding ground and feeding ground was less than 6 km.It is emphasized that in addition to improving the conditions of the remaining natural habitats,effective managing artificial habitats is a priority for shorebird conservation.This research could provide reference for the management of artificial wetlands in coastal zones and supply technique support for the protection of shorebirds and their habitats,and alleviate human-bird conflicts and sustainable development of coastal zones.

Rock mass quality prediction on tunnel faces with incomplete multi-source dataset via tree-augmented naive Bayesian network

Rock mass quality serves as a vital index for predicting the stability and safety status of rock tunnel faces.In tunneling practice,the rock mass quality is often assessed via a combination of qualitative and quantitative parameters.However,due to the harsh on-site construction conditions,it is rather difficult to obtain some of the evaluation parameters which are essential for the rock mass quality prediction.In this study,a novel improved Swin Transformer is proposed to detect,segment,and quantify rock mass characteristic parameters such as water leakage,fractures,weak interlayers.The site experiment results demonstrate that the improved Swin Transformer achieves optimal segmentation results and achieving accuracies of 92%,81%,and 86%for water leakage,fractures,and weak interlayers,respectively.A multisource rock tunnel face characteristic(RTFC)dataset includes 11 parameters for predicting rock mass quality is established.Considering the limitations in predictive performance of incomplete evaluation parameters exist in this dataset,a novel tree-augmented naive Bayesian network(BN)is proposed to address the challenge of the incomplete dataset and achieved a prediction accuracy of 88%.In comparison with other commonly used Machine Learning models the proposed BN-based approach proved an improved performance on predicting the rock mass quality with the incomplete dataset.By utilizing the established BN,a further sensitivity analysis is conducted to quantitatively evaluate the importance of the various parameters,results indicate that the rock strength and fractures parameter exert the most significant influence on rock mass quality.

Advancing Wound Filling Extraction on 3D Faces:An Auto-Segmentation and Wound Face Regeneration Approach

Facial wound segmentation plays a crucial role in preoperative planning and optimizing patient outcomes in various medical applications.In this paper,we propose an efficient approach for automating 3D facial wound segmentation using a two-stream graph convolutional network.Our method leverages the Cir3D-FaIR dataset and addresses the challenge of data imbalance through extensive experimentation with different loss functions.To achieve accurate segmentation,we conducted thorough experiments and selected a high-performing model from the trainedmodels.The selectedmodel demonstrates exceptional segmentation performance for complex 3D facial wounds.Furthermore,based on the segmentation model,we propose an improved approach for extracting 3D facial wound fillers and compare it to the results of the previous study.Our method achieved a remarkable accuracy of 0.9999993% on the test suite,surpassing the performance of the previous method.From this result,we use 3D printing technology to illustrate the shape of the wound filling.The outcomes of this study have significant implications for physicians involved in preoperative planning and intervention design.By automating facial wound segmentation and improving the accuracy ofwound-filling extraction,our approach can assist in carefully assessing and optimizing interventions,leading to enhanced patient outcomes.Additionally,it contributes to advancing facial reconstruction techniques by utilizing machine learning and 3D bioprinting for printing skin tissue implants.Our source code is available at https://github.com/SIMOGroup/WoundFilling3D.

Persistence of fertilization effects on soil organic carbon in degraded alpine wetlands in the Yellow River source region

In the restoration of degraded wetlands,fertilization can improve the vegetation-soil-microorganisms complex,thereby affecting the organic carbon content.However,it is currently unclear whether these effects are sustainable.This study employed Biolog-Eco surveys to investigate the changes in vegetation characteristics,soil physicochemical properties,and soil microbial functional diversity in degraded alpine wetlands of the source region of the Yellow River at 3 and 15 months after the application of nitrogen,phosphorus,and organic mixed fertilizer.The following results were obtained:The addition of nitrogen fertilizer and organic compost significantly affects the soil organic carbon content in degraded wetlands.Three months after fertilization,nitrogen addition increases soil organic carbon in both lightly and severely degraded wetlands,whereas after 15 months,organic compost enhanced the soil organic carbon level in severely degraded wetlands.Structural equation modeling indicates that fertilization decreases the soil pH and directly or indirectly influences the soil organic carbon levels through variations in the soil water content and the aboveground biomass of vegetation.Three months after fertilization,nitrogen fertilizer showed a direct positive effect on soil organic carbon.However,organic mixed fertilizer indirectly reduced soil organic carbon by increasing biomass and decreasing soil moisture.After 15 months,none of the fertilizers significantly affected the soil organic carbon level.In summary,it can be inferred that the addition of nitrogen fertilizer lacks sustainability in positively influencing the organic carbon content.

Three-dimensional pseudo-dynamic reliability analysis of seismic shield tunnel faces combined with sparse polynomial chaos expansion

To address the seismic face stability challenges encountered in urban and subsea tunnel construction,an efficient probabilistic analysis framework for shield tunnel faces under seismic conditions is proposed.Based on the upper-bound theory of limit analysis,an improved three-dimensional discrete deterministic mechanism,accounting for the heterogeneous nature of soil media,is formulated to evaluate seismic face stability.The metamodel of failure probabilistic assessments for seismic tunnel faces is constructed by integrating the sparse polynomial chaos expansion method(SPCE)with the modified pseudo-dynamic approach(MPD).The improved deterministic model is validated by comparing with published literature and numerical simulations results,and the SPCE-MPD metamodel is examined with the traditional MCS method.Based on the SPCE-MPD metamodels,the seismic effects on face failure probability and reliability index are presented and the global sensitivity analysis(GSA)is involved to reflect the influence order of seismic action parameters.Finally,the proposed approach is tested to be effective by a engineering case of the Chengdu outer ring tunnel.The results show that higher uncertainty of seismic response on face stability should be noticed in areas with intense earthquakes and variation of seismic wave velocity has the most profound influence on tunnel face stability.