Shoreline Detection Accuracy from Video Monitoring Systems

Video monitoring has become an indispensable tool to understand beach processes. However, the measurement accuracy derived from the images has been taken for granted despite its dependence on the calibration process and camera movements. An easy to implement self-fed image stabilization algorithm is proposed to solve the camera movements. Georeferenced images were generated from the stabilized images using only one calibration. To assess the performance of the stabilization algorithm, a second set of georeferenced images was created from unstabilized images following the accepted practice of using several calibrations. Shorelines were extracted from the images and corrected with the measured water level and the computed run-up to the 0 m contour. Image-derived corrected shorelines were validated with one hundred beach profile surveys measured during a period of four years along a 1.1 km beach stretch. The simultaneous high-frequency field data available of images and beach surveys are uncommon and allow assessing seasonal changes and long-term trends accuracy. Errors in shoreline position do not increase in time suggesting that the proposed stabilization algorithm does not propagate errors, despite the ever-evolving vegetation in the images. The image stabilization reduces the error in shoreline position by 40 percent, having a larger impact with increasing distance from the camera. Furthermore, the algorithm improves the accuracy on long-term trends by one degree of magnitude (0.01 m/year vs. 0.25 m/year).

Successful Translation Students’ Use of Dictionaries

Dictionaries of all types are an indispensable tool for both professional and trainee translators. However, the literature on trainee translators indicates that the skills associated with dictionary use have not been given the required attention. Knowing which dictionaries to use and how to use them efficiently when engaged in the translation process are significant aspects of translation pedagogy. In fact, facilitating the development of effective dictionary use helps develop translation competence in general. Therefore, the present article reports on a qualitative case study of successful translation students’ usage of and preferences for various types of dictionaries. The results show that successful trainee translators use dictionaries to locate synonyms or better translations for target words. Successful translation students are also reported to use dictionaries frequently to check spelling. Most respondents reported consulting the dictionary after they finished reading source texts. In line with the global move toward digitalization, the participants reported using electronic dictionaries with significantly greater frequency than paper dictionaries. In most cases, successful translation students’ use of paper dictionaries was limited to classroom examinations. The open-ended interview questions also helped to reveal the variety of dictionaries used by this group of trainee translators. Taken together, these findings have utility for translation instructors, particularly regarding the improvement of trainee translators’ experiences and the provision of assistance to less successful students.

Sleep and circadian rhythms in Parkinson’s disease and preclinical models

The use of animals as models of human physiology is, and has been for many years, an indispensable tool for understanding the mechanisms of human disease. In Parkinson’s disease, various mouse models form the cornerstone of these investigations. Early models were developed to reflect the traditional histological features and motor symptoms of Parkinson’s disease. However, it is important that models accurately encompass important facets of the disease to allow for comprehensive mechanistic understanding and translational significance. Circadian rhythm and sleep issues are tightly correlated to Parkinson’s disease, and often arise prior to the presentation of typical motor deficits. It is essential that models used to understand Parkinson’s disease reflect these dysfunctions in circadian rhythms and sleep, both to facilitate investigations into mechanistic interplay between sleep and disease, and to assist in the development of circadian rhythm-facing therapeutic treatments. This review describes the extent to which various genetically- and neurotoxically-induced murine models of Parkinson’s reflect the sleep and circadian abnormalities of Parkinson’s disease observed in the clinic.

Expansion of Planted Forests: The Risk of Pesticides Mixtures

Planted forests include forests established through human planting or deliberate seeding. They are systems that offer us timber and non-timber forest products and ecosystem services, such as wildlife protection, carbon sequestration, soil, and watershed maintenance. Brazil has 7.6 million hectares of planted forests, with 72% of the total area occupied by Eucalyptus spp. A favorable climate and management and genetic improvement research are the main factors responsible for high productivity. In recent years, the expansion of planted areas has been accompanied by the commercial release of several pesticides, mainly herbicides. A recent change in the Brazilian legislation allows mixing phytosanitary products in a spray tank, having a new approach to managing pests, diseases, and weeds. Antagonism is the main risk of tank mixes, and to reduce the dangers associated with this practice, we review all products registered for growing Eucalyptus. This literature review aims to identify the effects of product mixtures registered for Eucalyptus reported for other crops. In addition, environmental and social risk assessment has been widely adopted to export wood and cellulose, making the results of this review an indispensable tool in identifying the nature and degree of risks associated with pesticides. The results classify the effects of the mixtures as an additive, antagonistic or synergistic. The use of pesticide tank mixtures has the potential for expansion. However, there are still challenges regarding variations in the effects and applications in different climatic conditions. Therefore, studies that prove efficient mixtures for the forest sector are essential and the training of human resources.

Applications of ANN for Agriculture Using Remote Sensed Data

Ever since the advent of modern geo information systems, tracking environmental changes due to natural and/or manmade causes with the aid of remote sensing applications has been an indispensable tool in numerous fields of geography, most of the earth science disciplines, defense, intelligence, commerce, economics, and administrative planning. Remote sensing is used in science and technology, and through it, an object can be identified, measured, and analyzed without physical presence for interpretation. In India remote sensing has been using since 1970s. One among these applications is the crop classification and yield estimation. Using remote sensing in agriculture for crop mapping, and yield estimation provides efficient information, which is mainly used in many government organizations and the private sector. The pivotal sector for ensuring food security is a major concern of interest in these days. In time, availability of information on agricultural crops is vital for making well-versed decisions on food security issues.

„Gdzież jest, poeto, ocalenie…?”

This article is a review of the book Tadeusz Miciński i ludzie epoki. Studia [Tadeusz Miciński and the People of the Age. Studies] under the scientific editorship of Marcin Bajko, Jarosław Ławski and Urszula M. Pilch, published by Temida 2 publishing house in Białystok in 2019. The researcher notes that the analysed book centres around the motif of “salvation”, that it is possible thanks to the poets dialoguing with the protagonist of the book, Tadeusz Miciński, through the multiplication of presence – translation into other languages and cultures, through discovering in the interpretation the traces of the author’s intellectual wanderings across other cultures and religions, thanks to contemporary means of communication resonating the work, and finally thanks to human memory and its testimonies. In conclu-sion, the researcher recommends the book as an indispensable tool not only to those interested in the author of Nietota [The Firmoss], but also in the literature of Polish modernism in general.

Electrical Resistivity and Geotechnical Attributes and The Dynamics of Foundation Vulnerability

This research evaluates the significance of geotechnical and Electrical Resistivity methods in studying structural integrity as fundamental factors that may account for failure in a typical sedimentary environment of Ukpenu Primary School, Ekpoma, Edo State, Nigeria. Two methods were used in this study such as the Electrical Resistivity approach involving the use of Lateral Horizontal Profiling (LHP), 2D Electrical Resistivity Tomography (ERT), and Vertical Electrical Sounding (VES) techniques. While geotechnical method involved the collection of soil samples from the study locations for the characterization of the soil properties that are very vital to foundation studies. Nine VES were carried out using Schlumberger array with current electrode spacing varying from 1 to 40 m, with 2-D ERT using Dipole-Dipole electrode array with inter-station separation of 5 m and an expansion factor varied from 1 to 5 while LHP involve Wenner array with an electrode spacing of 5 m interval and was used to determine the vulnerability factors for the building sustainability. The VES interpretation results were used to determine the second-order parameters for the determination of vulnerability. The results obtained from the two methods review that both are very fundamental to foundation dynamics. However, electrical attributes were found to give better information in terms of depth, lateral extent, layer stratification, and nature of materials which make it an indispensable tool over geotechnical attributes whose depth of investigation is up to a maximum of 5 m which poses great limitation in the evaluation of structural integrity, against stress, and strain occasion by geodynamic activities that often result into fracture, crack, highly weathered formation that usually goes beyond the shallow depth of investigation. Therefore, it can be stated that resistivity attributes account for 90% of the major contributing factors that affect foundation vulnerability.

Schemes of Arrangement

Schemes of arrangement are an important and flexible mechanism, which can be used to reorganise a company's capital. Schemes have undergone a renaissance over the last twenty years, particularly as a debt restructuring device in the aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis when companies and their advisors have needed to develop effective tools for dealing with financial distress. The COVID-19 pandemic has provided a further incentive for jurisdictions to ensure that they have an effective debt restructuring mechanism in place. Schemes have also become the mechanism of choice for recommended takeovers. This book performs a critical, contextual and comparative analysis of schemes and their uses, examines recent developments in this area, including the Corporate Insolvency and Governance Act 2020, and considers whether further reform is needed to ensure that schemes continue to develop as an indispensable tool for companies for the future.