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Pose-Guided Multi-Cue Explicit Query Construction for Disambiguating Human-Object Interactions
No full textHuman-Object Interaction (HOI) detection remains challenging due to the semantic ambiguity of interaction categories and the limited discriminability of their feature representations. Existing approaches often improve recognition by employing sophisticated models or auxiliary textual annotations. While effective in certain gains, these solutions incur additional computational or annotation costs and struggle to capture intrinsic interaction regularities. To address these issues, we propose Pose-Guided Multi-Cue Explicit Query Construction (PM-EQC), a unified Transformer-based framework that builds upon collaborative modeling of appearance, spatial, and pose cues for discriminative interaction reasoning. At its core, the Collaborative Multi-Cue Query Constructor (CM-CQC) jointly models dependencies among visual cues to generate explicit query embeddings. CM-CQC further incorporates a hierarchical pose contextualization mechanism: global body configurations adaptively guide attention to local critical joints, yielding fine-grained pose embeddings and more precise interaction disambiguation. Owing to its modular design, PM-EQC integrates seamlessly with diverse backbones and benefits from their advances. Extensive experiments on PhysLab, HICO-DET, and V-COCO datasets demonstrate that PM-EQC achieves state-of-the-art performance, and the code is publicly available at https://github.com/ZMHSDUST/ PM-EQC
The Great Fee Migration : An Evaluation of Blockchain Protocols Without Block Rewards
No full textMany established blockchain protocols are programmed to transition from a dual-incentive model of block rewards and transaction fees to one sustained exclusively by fees. This paradigm shift, which we term the "Great Fee Migration", introduces high revenue volatility for miners, which undermines the network's security budget and creates economic incentives for destabilising attacks such as fee sniping. This thesis addresses this critical challenge by evaluating blockchain performance under fee-only conditions, with a particular focus on transaction fee mechanism design. We propose and evaluate a novel mechanism, the Reserve Pool TFM, which recycles surplus fees into a network-shared fund to subsidise miner payouts during periods of low network activity, thereby smoothing revenue over time. To empirically validate this design, we develop the Zero-Block Reward Auction simulator, the first framework designed for comparative TFM analysis under fee-only conditions. Using a dataset of over 12 million real-world Bitcoin transactions, our simulations demonstrate that the Reserve Pool TFM is able to reduce miner payout variance by approximately 75\% compared to traditional mechanisms, and achieves a 97\% block profitability rate, substantially strengthening overall network security. Our thesis is further supported by a game-theoretic study revealing that miner revenue depends on mempool congestion rather than artificial block size constraints, and a case study of a privacy-preserving digital advertising system, BB-FLoC, which confirms the viability of the Reserve Pool TFM in non-financial blockchain applications. Our findings offer a concrete path towards ensuring the long-term economic security and sustainability of future fee-only blockchain systems
How should institutions help clinicians to practise greener anaesthesia : first-order and second-order responsibilities to practice sustainably
Get PDFThere is a need for all industries, including healthcare, to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions. In anaesthetic practice, this not only requires a reduction in resource use and waste, but also a shift away from inhaled anaesthetic gases and towards alternatives with a lower carbon footprint. As inhalational anaesthesia produces greenhouse gas emissions at the point of use, achieving sustainable anaesthetic practice involves individual practitioner behaviour change. However, changing the practice of healthcare professionals raises potential ethical issues. The purpose of this paper is twofold. First, we discuss what moral duties anaesthetic practitioners have when it comes to practices that impact the environment. We argue that behaviour change among practitioners to align with certain moral responsibilities must be supplemented with an account of institutional duties to support this. In other words, we argue that institutions and those in power have second-order responsibilities to ensure that practitioners can fulfil their first-order responsibilities to practice more sustainably. The second goal of the paper is to consider not just the nature of second-order responsibilities but the content. We assess four different ways that second-order responsibilities might be fulfilled within healthcare systems: removing certain anaesthetic agents, seeking consensus, education and methods from behavioural economics. We argue that, while each of these are a necessary part of the picture, some interventions like nudges have considerable advantages
A study of FL children’s exposure, family backgrounds, and vocabulary learning
No full textIt is well known that a major impediment to the successful mastery of a target foreign language (FL) is a lack of exposure outside the classroom. The present one-year longitudinal study set out to examine (1) the amounts and kinds of exposure to English outside class experienced by young learners in an EFL context, (2) the relationships between their exposure and socioeconomic status (both parents’ education levels and household incomes), and (3) the association between exposure and vocabulary gains. Ninety Grade-5 EFL children in Hong Kong completed a pre- and post-vocabulary test with a gap of 1 year. Individual interviews were conducted with each child’s parent(s)/guardian(s) (and the children themselves) to collate data about their backgrounds and the child’s exposure to English. The findings revealed that all participants received out-of-class English input through doing homework, and more than two-thirds of them attended tutorial classes and engaged with general informal exposure to English (GIE) such as watching videos and reading books. (Marginally) positive correlations were found between GIE, household income, and parents’ levels of education. GIE was also found to be related to total vocabulary gains over the one-year period, especially at the 2,000-word level
Glial cells in the heart : Implications for their roles in health and disease
No full textGlial cells are essential regulators of brain homeostasis by orchestrating neuronal function, metabolism and immune responses. However, much less is known about peripheral glial cells, particularly those in the heart. This review explores the development, types and functions of cardiac glial cells, including Schwann cells, satellite glial cells and recently identified cardiac nexus glia, with some reference to their central nervous system counterparts. The heart's autonomic nervous system consists of sympathetic and parasympathetic nerve fibres, primarily located in the epicardial fat pads within the transverse and oblique sinuses and around the roots of the great vessels. Schwann cells support cardiac repair by myelinating neurons and modulating inflammation, while satellite glial cells regulate the neuronal microenvironment, influencing heart rate and rhythm. Cardiac nexus glial cells interact with both sympathetic and parasympathetic pathways to regulate heart function. Understanding the roles of cardiac glial cells could provide new insights into neuro‐cardiac interactions and reveal potential therapeutic targets for cardiac disorders
Investigation on Placement of Battery Energy Storage System in Wave Power Conversion System
Get PDFWave Energy Converter (WEC) systems harness kinetic energy from ocean waves, with the power take-off (PTO) system facilitating the conversion to electrical power. To integrate the WEC system into the AC grid, a voltage-sourced converter (VSC) with grid forming (GFM) control becomes essential, especially in future grids with high penetration of renewables. A battery energy storage system (BESS) is typically coupled with the WEC system to enhance integration. BESS can be connected either on the DC side or the AC side, leading to different topologies and performance outcomes. When BESS is placed on the DC side of the WEC system (WECd) and controlled by GFM, the overall system can accurately track the reference power and provide grid support. However, if a GFM-controlled BESS is on the AC side of the WEC system (WECa), although the grid-side VSC requires reduced capacity, it may experience delays in aligning with the WEC power as compared to its reference power curve due to DC voltage variations, potentially leading to grid power imbalances. This paper presents the integration of a linear generator (LG)-based multi-axis WEC system into the AC grid, with a detailed comparison regarding the placement of BESS. A novel GFM control strategy is proposed to improve the reference power tracking accuracy of WECa system. Parameter design is explored through transfer function analysis. Simulation results show that the proposed control effectively improves the power tracking ability and controllability of the WECa system, achieving performance comparable to the WECd system
The Definition and Aims of Anesthesia : a Delphi-based Consensus Statement
No full textBackground Anaesthesia is crucial in ensuring patient comfort and safety during surgical procedures by inducing a temporary loss of sensation, memory, and consciousness. However, its multifaceted nature presents challenges in defining its aims and expected outcomes. This study aimed to establish a consensus on anaesthesia's definition and core aims using a structured Delphi process. Methods We conducted a modified three-round eDelphi method involving 23 international experts. Participants engaged in iterative online surveys to refine a consensus definition and aims. Consensus was predefined as achieving ≥80% agreement. The process included external expert reviews to enhance objectivity and validity. Statistical analyses included median, interquartile range (IQR), and agreement percentages. Results The Delphi process resulted in consensus on 49 aims and a refined definition of anaesthesia. The final definition emphasises safe, effective, individualised, patient-centred, and empathetic care, ensuring optimal surgical conditions while enhancing patient outcomes. Key aims included preoperative optimisation, stress and pain reduction, organ function preservation, prompt emergence and recovery, interdisciplinary teamwork, continuous outcome assessment, and sustainability in anaesthesia practices. The final agreement rate for the updated definition was 82.6% (median: 10, IQR: 9–10). Additionally, environmental sustainability was recognised as an integral aim. Conclusion The consensus developed in this study provides a structured framework for defining anaesthesia’s objectives, improving patient-centred care, guiding clinical practice, and fostering research. By incorporating sustainability and long-term patient outcomes, the consensus supports the evolution of precision anaesthesia. Future research will validate these defined aims in various perioperative settings and refine the consensus based on real-world applications
Optimising A Compact Dual-Particle Imager with A Novel Combination of Organic and Inorganic Scintillators
Get PDFThis work discusses the process of optimising the performance of a compact dual-particle imager with a fast response time of 60 s and a signal processing time of 60 s. The imaging concept relies on a radiation scattering technique with a neutron-scattering sub-system, a Compton-scattering sub-system and a thermal neutron absorption layer. The enhanced design proposed here reduces the signal processing time compared to earlier work. The time lagging occurs mainly during neutron-gamma discrimination within the neutron scattering sub-system. Hence, the optimisation here which mainly targets investigating two promising dual particle detectors EJ-212 and EJ-276D as possible replacement for the EJ-204 in the original device. The results indicated that EJ-212 and EJ-276D offer similar elastic scattering and escape probabilities of neutrons at energies less than 100 keV. At energies higher than 500 keV, the elastic scattering probabilities increase with thickness, reaching a maximum around 24 % in both detectors. As for gamma-ray photons, the results showed that the two detectors have similar total mass attenuation coefficients. Further investigation showed that EJ-212 exhibits a higher Compton scattering cross-section with respect to EJ-276D. Additionally, results show that EJ-276D maintains the imager intrinsic efficiency while offering built-in neutron-gamma discrimination abilities
