Note: When clicking on a Digital Object Identifier (DOI) number, you will be taken to an external site maintained by the publisher.
Some full text articles may not yet be available without a charge during the embargo (administrative interval).
What is a DOI Number?
Some links on this page may take you to non-federal websites. Their policies may differ from this site.
-
Free, publicly-accessible full text available August 1, 2025
-
As solar photovoltaic (PV) has emerged as a dominant player in the energy market, there has been an exponential surge in solar deployment and investment within this sector. With the rapid growth of solar energy adoption, accurate and efficient detection of PV panels has become crucial for effective solar energy mapping and planning. This paper presents the application of the Mask2Former model for segmenting PV panels from a diverse, multi-resolution dataset of satellite and aerial imagery. Our primary objective is to harness Mask2Former’s deep learning capabilities to achieve precise segmentation of PV panels in real-world scenarios. We fine-tune the pre-existing Mask2Former model on a carefully curated multi-resolution dataset and a crowdsourced dataset of satellite and aerial images, showcasing its superiority over other deep learning models like U-Net and DeepLabv3+. Most notably, Mask2Former establishes a new state-of-the-art in semantic segmentation by achieving over 95% IoU scores. Our research contributes significantly to the advancement solar energy mapping and sets a benchmark for future studies in this field.more » « lessFree, publicly-accessible full text available May 1, 2025
-
Abstract The significance of respiratory droplet transmission in spreading respiratory diseases such as COVID-19 has been identified by researchers. Although one cough or sneeze generates a large number of respiratory droplets, they are usually infrequent. In comparison, speaking and singing generate fewer droplets, but occur much more often, highlighting their potential as a vector for airborne transmission. However, the flow dynamics of speech and the transmission of speech droplets have not been fully investigated. To shed light on this topic, two-dimensional geometries of a vocal tract for a labiodental fricative [f] were generated based on real-time MRI of a subject during pronouncing [f]. In these models, two different curvatures were considered for the tip tongue shape and the lower lip to highlight the effects of the articulator geometries on transmission dynamics. The commercial ANSYS-Fluent CFD software was used to solve the complex expiratory speech airflow trajectories. Simultaneously, the discrete phase model of the software was used to track submicron and large size respiratory droplets exhaled during [f] utterance. The simulations were performed for high, normal, and low lung pressures to explore the influence of loud, normal, and soft utterances, respectively, on the airflow dynamics. The presented results demonstrate the variability of the airflow and droplet propagation as a function of the vocal tract geometrical characteristics and loudness.
-
Abstract Conservation funding is currently limited; cost‐effective conservation solutions are essential. We suggest that the thousands of field stations worldwide can play key roles at the frontline of biodiversity conservation and have high intrinsic value. We assessed field stations’ conservation return on investment and explored the impact of COVID‐19. We surveyed leaders of field stations across tropical regions that host primate research; 157 field stations in 56 countries responded. Respondents reported improved habitat quality and reduced hunting rates at over 80% of field stations and lower operational costs per km2than protected areas, yet half of those surveyed have less funding now than in 2019. Spatial analyses support field station presence as reducing deforestation. These “earth observatories” provide a high return on investment; we advocate for increased support of field station programs and for governments to support their vital conservation efforts by investing accordingly.
Free, publicly-accessible full text available March 4, 2025