Multiclass Image Classification Using GANs and CNN Based on Holes Drilled in Laminated Chipboard

The multiclass prediction approach to the problem of recognizing the state of the drill by classifying images of drilled holes into three classes is presented. Expert judgement was made on the basis of the quality of the hole, by dividing the collected photographs into the classes: “very fine,” “acceptable,” and “unacceptable.” The aim of the research was to create a model capable of identifying different levels of quality of the holes, where the reduced quality would serve as a warning that the drill is about to wear down. This could reduce the damage caused by a blunt tool. To perform this task, real-world data were gathered, normalized, and scaled down, and additional instances were created with the use of data-augmentation techniques, a self-developed transformation, and with general adversarial networks. This approach also allowed us to achieve a slight rebalance of the dataset, by creating higher numbers of images belonging to the less-represented classes. The datasets generated were then fed into a series of convolutional neural networks, with different numbers of convolution layers used, modelled to carry out the multiclass prediction. The performance of the so-designed model was compared to predictions generated by Microsoft’s Custom Vision service, trained on the same data, which was treated as the benchmark. Several trained models obtained by adjusting the structure and hyperparameters of the model were able to provide better recognition of less-represented classes than the benchmark.

Nest substrate and tool shape significantly affect the mechanics and energy requirements of avian eggshell puncture

Some host species of avian obligate brood parasites reject parasitic eggs from their nest whereas others accept them, even though they recognize them as foreign. One hypothesis to explain this seemingly maladaptive behavior is that acceptors are unable to pierce and remove the parasitic eggshell. Previous studies reporting on the force and energy required to break brood parasites’ eggshells were typically static tests performed against hard substrate surfaces. Here, we considered host nest as a substrate to simulate this potentially critical aspect of the natural context for egg puncture while testing the energy required to break avian eggshells. Specifically, as a proof of concept, we punctured domestic chicken eggs under a series of conditions: varying tool shape (sharp vs. blunt), tool dynamics (static vs. dynamic), and the presence of natural bird nests (of three host species). The results show a complex set of statistically significant interactions between tool shapes, puncture dynamics, and nest substrates. Specifically, the energy required to break eggs was greater for the static tests than for the dynamic tests, but only when using a nest substrate and a blunt tool. In turn, in the static tests, the addition of a nest significantly increased energy requirements for both tool types, whereas during dynamic tests, the increase in energy associated with the nest presence was significant only when using the sharp tool. Characterizing the process of eggshell puncture in increasingly naturalistic contexts will help in understanding whether and how hosts of brood parasites evolve to reject foreign eggs.

Aid is a blunt tool for promoting democracy

Significance The move reflects the conventional wisdom that aid can influence the behaviour of recipient countries, promoting democratic values. However, such goals are undermined by multiple factors, including the domestic politics of the recipients and the donors. Impacts Post-pandemic aid cuts risk reducing public services in aid-dependent countries over the coming years. Aid withdrawal, without wider coordination, will prove ineffective in altering the behaviour of incumbent leaders. Aid coordination will become harder, especially on democratic issues, as non-traditional donors with different priorities increase funding. Donors such as China will link aid for COVID-19 vaccines to geostrategic goals in aid-dependent countries such as Cambodia.

Specific features of drilling mode with extendable working elements

The work is devoted to the calculation of the main technological parameters of a bit of a new patented design, the essence of which is to replace worn out working elements (carbide cutters or diamond-containing matrices) during drilling with a new, not blunt tool right at the bottom of the well. The need to correct the calculation method is associated with the design feature of the new crown, which consists in the fact that when using it, an annular bottom of a larger width is formed compared to serial crowns of the same outer diameter. Therefore, the known formulas for carbide and diamond drilling have been supplemented with appropriate correction values so that the ROPs when using new and serial bits are the same during full development. So, when using carbide cutters as rock-cutting elements, a correction factor is introduced that increases the number of main cutters in the crown sectors of the first and second stages. In diamond cutting, it is necessary to increase the maximum speed of the tool, taking into account the mining technical conditions of penetration. Refined formulas for calculating the parameters of the drilling mode allow preserving the advantages of bits with extendable working elements and increasing the drilling speed by 1.7-1.8 times compared to existing serial bits.

A Call to Address Academic Difficulties Resulting from the COVID-19-Related Change in Education Delivery

As the corona virus pandemic forced school closures worldwide, online platforms have become invaluable tools for allowing instruction to continue smoothly and, hopefully, for mitigating the severity of any student learning disruptions associated with the COVID-19 forced school closures. Although distance-learning is currently necessary, it is a blunt tool that may prove to be inadequate, compared to face-to-face teaching content delivery, for meeting students’ educational needs resulting from COVID-19-forced school closures. It is very likely that the sudden shift to distance-learning has will disadvantage many students who are not experienced with or prepared for the dramatic changes that have occurred in the delivery of formal education. Here, we proffer a call to education-scholars to engage in investigations designed to provide research-informed knowledge and understanding of what pedagogical methodologies are needed for addressing learning deficiencies inherent in distance-learning instruction, and to effectuate the changes needed to provide an equitable educational experience to all students, during the uncertain times of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Squashing, Filtering, and Other Ways We Process Food

As I have discussed throughout this book, mankind has relied on heating to preserve and make safe our food for a very long time, even long before the science of how and why this works was understood. However, clearly using heat to process However, clearly using heat to process food is a rather blunt tool, sometimes as subtle in its effects as hitting it with a club or bat. Just as it kills bacteria, molds, and other microorganisms, it inflicts collateral damage on the sensory and nutritional quality of the food. The greater the level of kill, and hence stability and safety conferred, the greater damage to the “fresh-like” characteristics of the food has usually been caused. A question could then be posed as to whether, instead of applying such a crude and damaging (although undoubtedly effective) treatment, we could treat food with more of a surgical-scalpel or laser-focused treatment, which zoomed in on and very specifically destroyed the target microorganisms while leaving the surrounding food as little changed as possible. This is the target of so-called minimal (sometimes called invisible) processing, and today there are a range of technologies that have promise for achieving this goal. Indeed, because of the desirability of such an outcome, this has been thus one of the most active areas of research on food processing in recent years. We have encountered the importance of pressure several times already in this book, usually in how its manipulation can affect properties of water such as boiling. Pressure has another important application in food processing, though, in that it can replace heat as the physical force we apply to achieve desirable change in food. In food processing circles, high-pressure (HP) processing is often referred to as a novel processing technology, but in fact it has been around for quite a long time. Remarkably, around the same time that Pasteur was explaining how heat works in terms of preserving food, on the other side of the Atlantic an American scientist called Bert Hite at the West Virginia Agriculture Station was doing experiments on his own homemade pressure-generating apparatus.