Dual-Branch Feature Fusion Network for Salient Object Detection

Proper features matter for salient object detection. Existing methods mainly focus on designing a sophisticated structure to incorporate multi-level features and filter out cluttered features. We present the dual-branch feature fusion network (DBFFNet), a simple effective framework mainly composed of three modules: global information perception module, local information concatenation module and refinement fusion module. The local information of a salient object is extracted from the local information concatenation module. The global information perception module exploits the U-Net structure to transmit the global information layer by layer. By employing the refinement fusion module, our approach is able to refine features from two branches and detect salient objects with final details without any post-processing. Experiments on standard benchmarks demonstrate that our method outperforms almost all of the state-of-the-art methods in terms of accuracy, and achieves the best performance in terms of speed under fair settings. Moreover, we design a wide-field optical system and combine with DBFFNet to achieve salient object detection with large field of view.

The Impact of the Global and Local Awareness Diffusion on Epidemic Transmission Considering the Heterogeneity of Individual Influences

In this paper, we propose a coupled awareness - epidemic spreading model considering the heterogeneity of individual influences, which aims to explore the interaction between awareness diffusion and epidemic transmission. The considered heterogeneity of individual influences are threefold: the heterogeneity of individual influences in the information layer, the heterogeneity of individual influences in the epidemic layer and the heterogeneity of individual behavioral responses to epidemics. In addition, the individuals' receptive preference for information and the impacts of individuals' perceived local awareness ratio and individuals' perceived epidemic severity on self-protective behavior are included. The epidemic threshold is theoretically established according to the microscopic Markov chain approach and mean-field approach. Results indicate that the critical local and global awareness ratios have two-stage effects on the epidemic threshold. Besides, either the heterogeneity of individual influences in the information layer or the strength of individuals' responses to epidemics can influence the epidemic threshold with a nonlinear way. However, the heterogeneity of individual influences in the epidemic layer has few effect on the epidemic threshold, but can affects the magnitude of the final infected density.

Toy or Tool? Utilitaristischer und hedonischer Nutzen mobiler Augmented Reality-Apps

ZusammenfassungMobile Augmented Reality (MAR)-Apps für private Konsument:innen existieren zwischenzeitlich für verschiedene Anwendungsbereiche und sie können zahlreiche Funktionen erfüllen. Der vorliegende Beitrag untersucht, welche Faktoren den wahrgenommenen Nutzen und die Bewertung von Konsument:innen beeinflussen. Hierzu werden 100 MAR-Apps anhand der Kategorien Information Layer, Unterhaltung, Bildung, virtuelle Produktproben und sonstige Hilfestellungen systematisiert und hinsichtlich ihres utilitaristischen und hedonischen Nutzens beurteilt. Während der hedonische Nutzen bei MAR-Apps der Kategorie Unterhaltung im Vordergrund steht, zielen MAR-Apps der Kategorien hilfreiche Tools und Information Layer hauptsächlich auf den funktionalen Nutzen ab. Für MAR-Apps der Kategorien Bildung und virtuelle Produktproben sind hedonische und utilitaristische Komponenten gleichermaßen wichtig. Die Untersuchung belegt, dass die von Konsument:innen auf App-Stores abgegebenen Ratings der MAR-Apps zwar von diesen hedonischen und utilitaristischen Nutzenkomponenten getrieben werden. Allerdings zeigt sich eine wichtige Interaktion. Der hedonische Nutzen wirkt sich insbesondere dann auf die Nutzerbewertungen aus, wenn der utilitaristische Nutzen gering ist. Aus den Befunden leiten sich wichtige Implikationen für App-Entwickler und Unternehmen ab.

Modelling Voluntary General Population Vaccination Strategies during COVID-19 Outbreak: Influence of Disease Prevalence

A novel statistical model based on a two-layer, contact and information, graph is suggested in order to study the influence of disease prevalence on voluntary general population vaccination during the COVID-19 outbreak. Details about the structure and number of susceptible, infectious, and recovered/vaccinated individuals from the contact layer are simultaneously transferred to the information layer. The ever-growing wealth of information that is becoming available about the COVID virus was modelled at each individual level by a simplified proxy predictor of the amount of disease spread. Each informed individual, a node in a heterogeneous graph, makes a decision about vaccination “motivated” by their benefit. The obtained results showed that disease information type, global or local, has a significant impact on an individual vaccination decision. A number of different scenarios were investigated. The scenarios showed that in the case of the stronger impact of globally broadcasted disease information, individuals tend to vaccinate in larger numbers at the same time when the infection has already spread within the population. If individuals make vaccination decisions based on locally available information, the vaccination rate is uniformly spread during infection outbreak duration. Prioritising elderly population vaccination leads to an increased number of infected cases and a higher reduction in mortality. The developed model accuracy allows the precise targeting of vaccination order depending on the individuals’ number of social contacts. Precisely targeted vaccination, combined with pre-existing immunity, and public health measures can limit the infection to isolated hotspots inside the population, as well as significantly delay and lower the infection peak.

Construction of Intelligent Integrated Model Framework for the Workshop Manufacturing System Via Digital Twin

With the drastic development of the globally advanced manufacturing industry, transition of the original production pattern from traditional industries to advanced intelligence is completed with the least delay possible, which are still facing new challenges. Because the timeliness, stability and reliability of them is significantly restricted due to lack of the real-time communication. Therefore, an intelligent workshop manufacturing system model framework based on digital twin is proposed in this paper, driving the deep inform integration among the physical entity, data collection, and information decision-making. The conceptual and obscure of the traditional digital twin is refined, optimized, and upgraded on the basis of the four-dimension collaborative model thinking. A refined nine-layer intelligent digital twin model framework is established. Firstly, the physical evaluation is refined into entity layer, auxiliary layer and interface layer, scientifically managing the physical resources as well as the operation and maintenance of the instrument, and coordinating the overall system. Secondly, dividing the data evaluation into the data layer and the processing layer can greatly improve the flexible response-ability and ensure the synchronization of the real-time data. Finally, the system evaluation is subdivided into information layer, algorithm layer, scheduling layer, and functional layer, developing flexible manufacturing plan more reasonably, shortening production cycle, and reducing logistics cost. Simultaneously, combining SLP and artificial bee colony are applied to investigate the production system optimization of the textile workshop. The results indicate that the production efficiency of the optimized production system is increased by 34.46%.

SOFT AND HARD TRIGGERS OF PRESUPPOSITION IN THE HORROR STORY “HERBERT WEST ‒ REANIMATOR”

This paper examines the phenomenon of “presupposition” based on Howard Phillips Lovecraft’s horror story “Herbert West – Reanimator” and provides several different concepts that will help to separate the meanings of “soft” and “hard” triggers of presupposition. The general idea of the presupposition, as such, allows the reader of any work of art to obtain additional data as part of the information layer, which either does not require further explanation in general or is a common socio-cultural or template-axiom concept that annihilates the need for clarification as such.The work aims to demonstrate the fundamentally different concepts of soft and hard presupposition in the key of the three main classes and the level of accommodation of the recipient to each of the structures. The result of differentiation was obtained by isolating textual structures from the general layer of the work, as a combination of semantic and pragmatic understanding of the expression and demonstration of the importance of each element as a whole and highlighting a more significant component in each example. The work of scientists who have already studied a similar phenomenon on the example of other intertextual formations and expressed their opinion on the significance of the considered aspects and the significance of the difference between them was taken as a basis. In particular, not only the fundamental difference between soft and hard triggers but also ignoring the difference between them at the level of suspension of the specified value in the context of the formation to which a certain structure is embedded.Results. The paper reveals several problems that prevent a clear distinction between triggers that indicate presupposition. Among them are the wide functionality of lexical units within the context-meaningful information message and the diversity of translation in the adaptation to the understanding of foreign recipients. Thus, the phenomenon of the inconsistency of trigger behavior is considered, which significantly prevents the error-free identification of the presupposition. Ultimately, this leads to emphasizing the urgency of the formation of a single concept of presupposition and the creation of a systematic empirical interlinguistic theory of methods for verifying presuppositions.Conclusions. As a result, the work demonstrates examples of soft acceptance of alternative constructions as a logical consequence of the contextual influence of certain structures on the overall picture described in the work. Conditions are considered that do not affect the integral functioning of individual structures in the text, showing a direct dependence on the context. All these constructions are an integral part of the formation of the overall picture perceived by the recipient (listener or reader), and this emphasizes the fact that the contextual load of each trigger depends on the means of their implementation and functioning not only within the text but also the genre.Key words: presupposition, soft trigger, hard trigger, accommodation, semantic models, pragmatic models. Дана робота розглядає таке явище, як «пресупозиція», на основі твору жахів Говарда Філіпса Лавкрафта «Herbert West – Reanimator» та дає ряд диференційних понять, що допоможуть відокремити значення «м’яких» та «жорстких» тригерів пре-супозиції. Загальне уявлення пресупозиції як такої дає читачеві будь-якого художнього твору можливість отримати додатковий об’єм даних як частину інформаційного пласту, який або не потребує додаткових роз’яснень в цілому, або ж є загальноприйня-тим соціокультурним чи шаблонно–аксіомним поняттям, що анігелює потребу в уточненнях як таку.Метою роботи є демонстрація принципово відмінних понять «м’якої» та «жорсткої» пресупозиції у ключі трьох осно-вних класів та рівня акомодації реципієнта до кожної із структур. Результат диференціації було отримано методом вичленення текстових структур із загального пласту твору, як комбінацію семантичного та прагматичного розуміння вислову та демонстрації значимості кожного з елементів в цілому й виокремлення більш значущої складової частини в кожному прикладі. За основу було взято праці наукових діячів, що вже досліджували подібне явище на прикладі інших інтертекстуальних формацій та висловили свою думку із приводу значимості розглянутих аспектів та суттєвості різниці між такими. Зокрема, не лише принципову різницю між «м’якими» та «жорсткими» тригерами, а й ігнорування різниці між ними на рівні призупинення функціонування вказаного значення в контексті формації до якого вбудовано певну структуру.Результати. У роботі розкрито ряд проблем, що перешкоджають проведенню чіткого розмежування між тригерами, які вказують на пресупозицію. Серед них широка функціональність лексичних одиниць у межах контекстно-значимого інформаційного посилу та різноманіття перекладу в адаптації до розуміння іншомовних реципієнтів. Таким чином, розглядається явище непослідовності поведінки тригерів, що значною мірою перешкоджає безпомилковій ідентифікації пресупозиції. Зрештою це призводить до підкреслення актуальності питання формування єдиного поняття пресупозиції та створення систематичної емпіричної міжлінгвістичної теорії методів перевірки пресупозицій.Висновки. Робота демонструє приклади м’якого прийняття альтернативних конструкцій як логічного наслідку контекстного впливу певних структур на загальну картину описану у творі. Розглядаються умови, які не впливають на цілісне функціону-вання окремих конструкцій у тексті, проявляючи пряму залежність від контексту. Всі ці конструкції є невід’ємною частиною формування загальної картини сприйнятої реципієнтом (слухачем чи читачем), а це підкреслює факт залежності контекстного навантаження кожного окремого тригера від засобів їх реалізації й функціонування не лише в рамках тексту, а й жанру твору.Ключові слова: пресупозиція, м’який тригер, жорсткий тригер, акомодація, семантичні моделі, прагматичні моделі.

The Sen2Cube.at national semantic Earth observation data cube for Austria

<div> <p>The Sen2Cube.at is a Sentinel-2 semantic Earth observation (EO) data and information cube that combines an EO data cube with an AI-based inference engine by integrating a computer-vision approach to infer new information. Our approach uses semantic enrichment of optical images and makes the data and information directly available and accessible for further use within an EO data cube. The architecture is based on an expert system, in which domain-knowledge can be encoded in semantic models (knowledgebase) and applied to the Sentinel-2 data as well as semantically enriched, data-derived information (factbase).  </p> </div><div> <p>The initial semantic enrichment in the Sen2Cube.at system is general-purpose, user- and application-independent, derived directly from optical EO images as an initial step towards a scene classification map. These information layers are automatically generated from Sentinel-2 images with the SIAM software (Satellite Image Automated Mapper). SIAM is a knowledge-based and physical-model-based decision tree that produces a set of information layers in a fully automated process that is applicable worldwide and does not require any samples. A graphical inference engine allows application-specific Web-based semantic querying based on the generic information layer as a replicable and explainable approach to produce information. The graphical inference engine is a new Browser-based graphical user interface (GUI) developed in-house with a semantic querying language. Users formulate semantic models in a graphical way and can execute them on any area-of-interest and time interval, which will be evaluated by the core of the inference engine attached to the data cube. This also enables non-expert users to formulate analyses without requiring programming skills.  </p> </div><div> <p>While the methodology is software-independent, the prototype is based on the Open Data Cube and additional in-house developed components in the Python programming language. Scaling is possible depending on the available infrastructure resources due to the system’s Docker-based container architecture. Through its fully automated semantic enrichment, innovative graphical querying language in the GUI for semantic querying and analysis as well as the implementation as a scalable infrastructure, this approach is suited for big data analysis of Earth observation data. It was successfully scaled to a national data cube for Austria, containing all available Sentinel-2 images from the platforms A and B. </p> </div>

The PROCRUSTES testbed: tackling cyber-physical risk for water systems

<p>Our modern urban environment relies on critical infrastructures that serve vital societal functions, such as water supply and sanitation, which are exposed to various threats of both physical and cyber nature. Despite the progress in protection and increased vigilance, long-established practices within the water utilities may rely on precarious methods for the characterization and assessment of threats, with uncertainty pertaining to risk-relevant data and information. Sources for uncertainty can be attributed to e.g. limited capabilities of deterministic approaches, siloed analysis of water systems, use of ambiguous measures to describe and prioritise risks or common security misconceptions. To tackle those challenges, this work brings together an ensemble of solutions, to form a novel, unified process of resilience assessment for the water sector against an emerging cyber-physical threat landscape e.g., cyber-attacks on the command and control sub-system. Specifically, the proposed framework sets out an operational workflow that combines, inter alia, a) an Agent-Based Modelling (ABM) approach to derive alternative routes to quantify risks considering the dynamics of socio-technical systems, b) an adaptable optimisation platform which integrates advanced multi-objective algorithms for system calibration, uncertainty propagation analysis and asset criticality prioritization and c) a dynamic risk reduction knowledge-base (RRKB) designed to facilitate the identification and selection of suitable risk reduction measures (RRM). This scheme is overarched by a cyber-physical testbed, able to realistically model the interactions between the information layer (sensors, PLCs, SCADA) and the water distribution network. The testbed is designed to assess the water system beyond normal operational capacity. It facilitates the exploration of emergent and unidentified threats and vulnerabilities leading to Low Probability, High Consequence (LPHC) events that systems are not originally designed to handle. It also evaluates alternative risk treatment options against case-appropriate indicators. The final product is the accretion of actionable information to integrate risk into decision-making in a practical and standardized form. Our work envisions to bring forth state-of-art technologies and approaches for the cyber-wise water sector. We aspire to enhance existing capabilities for large utilities and enable small and medium water utilities with typically less resources, to reinforce their systems’ resilience and be better prepared against cyber-physical and other threats.</p>

Trends in the development of the high-tech sphere in the conditions of globalization

Introduction. The presented work considers the main features of the high-tech sphere, presents trends in its development taking into account the requirements of time and processes of globalization and integration based on the generalization and analysis of theoretical, analytical and statistical information layer. It is determined that the concept of high technology is a new technology based on the current stage of scientific and technological development. They correspond to a specific list of world commodity markets and priorities of scientific, technical and innovation policy of developed countries. The peculiarity of high technologies is that their rapid development changes the market and accelerates in other sectors of the economy.The purpose of the study is the process of creating new high technologies, and the subject of the study is the analysis of the main trends in the development of high-tech industry. The aim of the study is to consider the processes of globalization in the context of their impact on the high-tech sphere. The study is based on the analysis of research in the field of high technology and the formation of major trends in high-tech development, which allows to predict the main vector of development of high-tech sphere and the ability to forecast the development of domestic high-tech sphere.Research methods. The article used general scientific and specific research methods, in particular: comparison - to study the theoretical foundations of high-tech development and the formation of a categorical research apparatus; analysis and synthesis - in the process of identifying trends in the development of high-tech sphere.Research results. Technological progress has completely changed the structure of the modern world economy. Thanks to technology, new activities have now been developed, many of which are efficient and highly profitable. A classic example of the impact of the introduction of high technology in everyday life is the emergence and use of new information technology. With the widespread use of new communication technology, this has dramatically reduced the cost of voice, data, text, images, and international charges for the transmission of information. Note that not every technology is a commodity and not every brand of technology. Technology can be a commodity in a certain field of activity, from an idea to a market, where you can identify applications that can be commercialized, analyzed and used. However, in this case, the technology must meet the requirements of standard products, such as patents, know-how, industrial or industrial designs, manufacturing practices, equipment and other equipment, technology, in short, as a means of production. technological processes.Perspectives. In future research we plan to identify the main problems of development of high-tech sphere of Ukraine; a promising direction is to determine the main characteristics of high-tech products, which are formed at each stage of production and in the presence of unsatisfactory characteristics, possible intervention in the production process of a prototype high-tech product.

Research on the Application of Blockchain in Smart Healthcare: Constructing a Hierarchical Framework

This study aims to explore the application of blockchain technology in smart healthcare, establish a hierarchical theoretical framework of smart healthcare, reveal the impact of blockchain on smart healthcare, and finally, construct a development application system of smart healthcare under the blockchain based on stakeholder theory. However, such a hierarchical theoretical framework should consider not only the necessary attributes and the interrelationship among various aspects and attributes but also the role of multiple stakeholders. Therefore, the paper uses fuzzy set theory to filter unnecessary attributes, proposes a decision-making and experimental evaluation laboratory (DEMATEL) to manage the complex interrelationships between various aspects and attributes, and uses Interpretive Structure Modeling (ISM) to divide the hierarchy and construct a hierarchical theoretical framework. The results show that (1) the top-level design, the medical record management, and the doctor management are the root causes of system. (2) The specific application of blockchain in the field of smart healthcare is mainly carried out around the intelligent contract, which relies on the medical record management and is constrained by the system, and optimization of application is the key to system upgrading. (3) The internal and external regulation, the medical insurance, and the environmental governance play a guaranteed role for the development of the system and effectively safeguard the interests of stakeholders. (4) The application system of smart healthcare under the blockchain needs to be built based on three layers: the transaction layer, information layer, and stakeholder layer. The theoretical hierarchical framework is intended to guide smart healthcare towards blockchain applications, and stakeholders are suggested to participate in the development application systems.