Search

Macular edema (ME) is an essential sort of macular issue caused due to the storing of fluid underneath the macula. Age-related Macular Degeneration (AMD) and diabetic macular edema (DME) are the two customary visual contaminations that can lead to fragmentary or complete vision loss. This paper proposes a deep learning-based predictive algorithm that can be used to detect the presence of a Subretinal hemorrhage. Region Convolutional Neural Network (R-CNN) and faster R-CNN are used to develop the predictive algorithm that can improve the classification accuracy. This method initially detects the presence of Subretinal hemorrhage, and it then segments the Region of Interest (ROI) by a semantic segmentation process. The segmented ROI is applied to a predictive algorithm which is derived from the Fast Region Convolutional Neural Network algorithm, that can categorize the Subretinal hemorrhage as responsive or non-responsive. The dataset, provided by a medical institution, comprised of optical coherence tomography (OCT) images of both pre- and post-treatment images, was used for training the proposed Faster Region Convolutional Neural Network (Faster R-CNN). We also used the Kaggle dataset for performance comparison with the traditional methods that are derived from the convolutional neural network (CNN) algorithm. The evaluation results using the Kaggle dataset and the hospital images provide an average sensitivity, selectivity, and accuracy of 85.3%, 89.64%, and 93.48% respectively. Further, the proposed method provides a time complexity in testing as 2.64s, which is less than the traditional schemes like CNN, R-CNN, and Fast R-CNN.

El bosque seco tropical (BST) concentra la mayor parte de la biodiversidad mundial y actualmente es uno de los ecosistemas más degradados de Colombia. Para su conservación es importante conocer la diversidad de microorganismos del suelo que forman parte de él, como los hongos micorrízicos arbusculares (HMA). Aquí evaluamos el efecto del fuego y los depósitos fluviolcánicos sobre la composición, abundancia y diversidad de los HMA en suelos de bosque seco tropical en el departamento de Tolima, Colombia. Seleccionamos cuatro áreas: dos con vegetación nativa en la Reserva Natural Santafé de Los Guaduales (RN) y Armero (AN), una afectada por un incendio forestal (RQ), y otra por depósitos fluviolcánicos (ADV). Los morfotipos de HMA se identificaron extrayendo esporas directamente del suelo (SD) y de cultivos trampa (TC) mediante el método de tamizado en húmedo y posteriormente montándolas en placas para la observación microscópica de su morfología. Se identificaron un total de 64 morfotipos distribuidos en cuatro órdenes, nueve familias y 17 géneros, siendo la familia Glomeraceae la que registró más morfoespecies indicadoras. Las cuatro áreas mostraron diferencias significativas en la composición, abundancia y diversidad de sus comunidades de HMA; RQ fue el área con mayor abundancia y diversidad seguida de AN. Nuestros resultados son una importante contribución al conocimiento de las comunidades de microorganismos TDF y su comportamiento en suelos afectados por diferentes eventos naturales. También contribuyen al inventario nacional de hongos con capacidades adaptativas. Las cuatro áreas mostraron diferencias significativas en la composición, abundancia y diversidad de sus comunidades de HMA; RQ fue el área con mayor abundancia y diversidad seguida de AN. Nuestros resultados son una importante contribución al conocimiento de las comunidades de microorganismos TDF y su comportamiento en suelos afectados por diferentes eventos naturales. También contribuyen al inventario nacional de hongos con capacidades adaptativas. Las cuatro áreas mostraron diferencias significativas en la composición, abundancia y diversidad de sus comunidades de HMA; RQ fue el área con mayor abundancia y diversidad seguida de AN. Nuestros resultados son una importante contribución al conocimiento de las comunidades de microorganismos TDF y su comportamiento en suelos afectados por diferentes eventos naturales. También contribuyen al inventario nacional de hongos con capacidades adaptativas. The tropical dry forest (TDF) concentrates most of the world’s biodiversity nut currently it is one of the most degraded ecosystems in Colombia. For its conservation, it is important to understand the diversity of soil microorganisms that are part of it, such as the arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF). Here we evaluated the effect of fire and fluviolcanic deposits on the composition, abundance, and diversity of the AMF in tropical dry forest soils in the department of Tolima, Colombia. We selected four areas: two with native vegetation in Santafé de Los Guaduales Natural Reserve (RN) and Armero (AN), one affected by a forest fire (RQ), and another one by fluviolcanic deposits (ADV). We identified the AMF morphotypes by extracting spores directly from the soil (SD) and from trap cultures (TC) using the wet sieving method and subsequently mounting them on plates for the microscopic observation of their morphology. A total of 64 morphotypes were identified distributed in four orders, nine families, and 17 genera, the Glomeraceae family registering more indicator morphospecies. The four areas showed significant differences in their AMF communities’ composition, abundance, and diversity; RQ was the area with the highest abundance and diversity followed by AN. Our results are an important contribution to the knowledge of TDF microorganism communities and their behavior in soils affected by different natural events. They also contribute to the national inventory of fungi with adaptive capacities.

The article contains a doctrinal, jurisprudential and legal analysis of the subject of telephone interventions in crimes of serious gravity, whose purpose is to clarify these crimes. This intervention must be ordered and controlled by a judge, protected by a reasoned resolution. The legal context revolves around what exists in Costa Rica in this area, invoking, in some cases, comparative jurisprudence. The paper offers a documented version of the intervention techniques, the existing legal limitations in relation to their scope and, what are the effective spheres of this figure and what their probative value in the current procedural system

In the late 1980s, large forest companies began precommercial thinning (PCT) operations in young northern hardwood cutovers in New Brunswick, Canada. To provide supporting growth and yield information, an industrial experiment was established at residual stand densities of 1300, 1600, 1900, and 2200 stems ha−1. Stand responses were examined for measurements recorded at 0 (1987), 5 (1992), 10 (1997), 16 (2003), and 23 (2010) years after establishment. Average diameter at breast height, quadratic mean diameter, stand basal area, and stand total volume growth increased as stem density decreased from PCT. There were significant linear differences for many of these variables between treatments and time periods (year). No significant differences were detected in tree height between treatments. In 2010, the four PCT thinning treatments did not exhibit any differences in potential sawlogs at 2.4 m (8 ft) and 3.6 m (12 ft) lengths. Significant differences were observed for 4.9 m (16 ft) sawlogs that were p...

The article contains a doctrinal, jurisprudential and legal analysis of the subject of telephone interventions in crimes of serious gravity, whose purpose is to clarify these crimes. This intervention must be ordered and controlled by a judge, protected by a reasoned resolution. The legal context revolves around what exists in Costa Rica in this area, invoking, in some cases, comparative jurisprudence. The paper offers a documented version of the intervention techniques, the existing legal limitations in relation to their scope and, what are the effective spheres of this figure and what their probative value in the current procedural system El artículo contiene un análisis doctrinal, jurisprudencial y legal de las intervenciones telefónicas en delitos de importante gravedad, que tengan como finalidad el esclarecimiento de estos delitos. Esta intervención debe ser ordenada y controlada por un juez y protegida por una resolución motivada. El contexto jurídico gira alrededor de lo que existe en Costa Rica en este tema invocando, en algunos casos, jurisprudencia comparada. En el trabajo se ofrece una versión documentada de las técnicas de intervención, las limitaciones legales existentes en relación con sus alcances, cuáles son las esferas efectivas de esta figura y cuál es su valor probatorio en el sistema procesal vigente.

Balsam fir (Abies balsamea [L.] Mill.), which is widely used for floral greenery, is an important source of nontimber forest products (NTFP) from the northern forests of North America. Nonetheless, additional information is needed to refine and revise commercial tip-harvesting management guidelines to promote sustainable forest management. Therefore, a study was initiated to: (a) examine the socioeconomic impacts of and anticipate the potential biological responses to four contrasting harvesting practices; (b) discuss the implications of the results for the relevance and applicability of some specifications of management guidelines; and (c) assess the compatibility of tip harvesting while pursuing an objective of timber production.

There are a number of overarching questions and debate in the scientific community concerning the importance of biotic interactions in species distribution models at large spatial scales. In this paper, we present a framework for revising the potential distribution of tree species native to the Western Ecoregion of Nova Scotia, Canada, by integrating the long-term effects of interspecific competition into an existing abiotic-factor-based definition of potential species distribution (PSD). The PSD model is developed by combining spatially explicit data of individualistic species’ response to normalized incident photosynthetically active radiation, soil water content, and growing degree days. A revised PSD model adds biomass output simulated over a 100-year timeframe with a robust forest gap model and scaled up to the landscape using a forestland classification technique. To demonstrate the method, we applied the calculation to the natural range of 16 target tree species as found in 1,240 provincial forest-inventory plots. The revised PSD model, with the long-term effects of interspecific competition accounted for, predicted that eastern hemlock (Tsuga canadensis), American beech (Fagus grandifolia), white birch (Betula papyrifera), red oak (Quercus rubra), sugar maple (Acer saccharum), and trembling aspen (Populus tremuloides) would experience a significant decline in their original distribution compared with balsam fir (Abies balsamea), black spruce (Picea mariana), red spruce (Picea rubens), red maple (Acer rubrum L.), and yellow birch (Betula alleghaniensis). True model accuracy improved from 64.2% with original PSD evaluations to 81.7% with revised PSD. Kappa statistics slightly increased from 0.26 (fair) to 0.41 (moderate) for original and revised PSDs, respectively.

A failed component / system brought back to its functioning state after repair exhibits different failure intensity than before its failure. This happens because the system in which the component is functioning experiences deterioration with age or the component / system is a repaired one which is aged compared to a new component / system. These factors affect the failure intensity of the component / system. To model the failure behaviour of such a component / system a simple model, termed the geometric failure rate reduction model by Finkelstein, is proposed. This model effectively models the changed failure behaviour of the component / system under the above circumstances. The model, and its inference are described and its application to a repairable systems demonstrated.