Video dataset of sheep activity for animal behavioral analysis via deep learning

A primary dataset capturing five distinct types of sheep activities in realistic settings was constructed at various resolutions and viewing angles, targeting the expansion of the domain knowledge for non-contact virtual fencing approaches. The present dataset can be used to develop non-invasive approaches for sheep activity detection, which can be proven useful for farming activities including, but not limited to, sheep counting, virtual fencing, behavior detection for health status, and effective sheep breeding. Sheep activity classes include grazing, running, sitting, standing, and walking. The activities of individuals, as well as herds of sheep, were recorded at different resolutions and angles to provide a dataset of diverse characteristics, as summarized in Table 1. Overall, a total of 149,327 frames from 417 videos (the equivalent of 59 minutes of footage) are presented with a balanced set for each activity class, which can be utilized for robust non-invasive detection models based on computer vision techniques. Despite a decent existence of noise within the original data (e.g., segments with no sheep present, multiple sheep in single frames, multiple activities by one or more sheep in single as well as multiple frames, segments with sheep alongside other non-sheep objects), we provide original videos and the original videos' frames (with videos and frames containing humans omitted for privacy reasons). The present dataset includes diverse sheep activity characteristics and can be useful for robust detection and recognition models, as well as advanced activity detection models as a function of time for the applications.

Evolution of Octupole Deformation in Radium Nuclei from Coulomb Excitation of Radioactive ^{222}Ra and ^{228}Ra Beams

There is sparse direct experimental evidence that atomic nuclei can exhibit stable "pear" shapes arising from strong octupole correlations. In order to investigate the nature of octupole collectivity in radium isotopes, electric octupole (E3) matrix elements have been determined for transitions in ^{222,228}Ra nuclei using the method of sub-barrier, multistep Coulomb excitation. Beams of the radioactive radium isotopes were provided by the HIE-ISOLDE facility at CERN. The observed pattern of E3 matrix elements for different nuclear transitions is explained by describing ^{222}Ra as pear shaped with stable octupole deformation, while ^{228}Ra behaves like an octupole vibrator.

The observation of vibrating pear-shapes in radon nuclei

There is a large body of evidence that atomic nuclei can undergo octupole distortion and assume the shape of a pear. This phenomenon is important for measurements of electric-dipole moments of atoms, which would indicate CP violation and hence probe physics beyond the Standard Model of particle physics. Isotopes of both radon and radium have been identified as candidates for such measurements. Here, we observed the low-lying quantum states in ²²⁴Rn and ²²⁶Rn by accelerating beams of these radioactive nuclei. We show that radon isotopes undergo octupole vibrations but do not possess static pear-shapes in their ground states. We conclude that radon atoms provide less favourable conditions for the enhancement of a measurable atomic electric-dipole moment.

On the sources of summertime haze in the eastern United States

The summertime haze transported from the Gulf Coast northward in maritime tropical air masses is partially formed from emissions in the midwestern and northeastern United States. Several cases are documented in which sulfate particulates, formed from emissions in the Midwest and Northeast, traveled to the Gulf of Mexico and, in some cases, returned to their source regions.