Digital Image Access & Retrieval

The 33th Annual Clinic on Library Applications of Data Processing, held at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in March of 1996, addressed the theme of "Digital Image Access & Retrieval." The papers from this conference cover a wide range of topics concerning digital imaging technology for visual resource collections. Papers covered three general areas: (1) systems, planning, and implementation; (2) automatic and semi-automatic indexing; and (3) preservation with the bulk of the conference focusing on indexing and retrieval.published or submitted for publicatio

Morphological Character of Clove “Raja” (Syzygium aromaticum L.), Endemic to Maluku, Indonesia

Clove “Raja” is one of the local Maluku clove germplasm, which has characteristics similar to cultivated cloves and wild types. Until now, very limited information that are available on the morphological character of clove “Raja”. This study aims to provide basic information on the morphological diversity of “Raja”. The study was conducted at the location of the distribution of cloves “Raja” in Mamala village, Leihitu sub-district, Central Maluku district, Maluku province, in June-August 2022. The descriptors used referred to Tropical Fruit Descriptors, with some modifications. The clove “Raja” that were characterized belonged to the farmers and consisted of 30 accessions of cloves that were over twenty years old. The characterization variables included the characters of trees, stems, branches, leaves, flowers, fruits, and seeds. The results of Hierarchical Cluster Analysis (HCA) on 30 plant samples based on 54 morphological characters obtained two accession groups with a dissimilarity coefficient of 41%. The results of the Principle Component Analysis (PCA) got a total diversity of 70.5% where the first group consisted of accessions of cloves “Raja” group I having identifiable characters in the form of leaf area, leaf length, leaf width, and leaf tip shape; while the second group of clove accessions of “Raja” group I in the form of stem circumference, petiole length, flower length, fruit length, fruit width, and fruit weight. Characteristics of accession of “Raja” cloves group II had distinctive morphological traits in the form of crown shape, upper surface of leaves, lower surface of leaves, leaf thickness, leaf texture, old leaf color, shoot color, leaf tip color, leaf aroma, leaf spiciness, flower stalk length, and seed color

The Dunhuang chinese sky: a comprehensive study of the oldest known star atlas

This paper presents an analysis of the star atlas included in the medieval Chinese manuscript (Or.8210/S.3326), discovered in 1907 by the archaeologist Aurel Stein at the Silk Road town of Dunhuang and now held in the British Library. Although partially studied by a few Chinese scholars, it has never been fully displayed and discussed in the Western world. This set of sky maps (12 hour angle maps in quasi-cylindrical projection and a circumpolar map in azimuthal projection), displaying the full sky visible from the Northern hemisphere, is up to now the oldest complete preserved star atlas from any civilisation. It is also the first known pictorial representation of the quasi-totality of the Chinese constellations. This paper describes the history of the physical object - a roll of thin paper drawn with ink. We analyse the stellar content of each map (1339 stars, 257 asterisms) and the texts associated with the maps. We establish the precision with which the maps are drawn (1.5 to 4 degrees for the brightest stars) and examine the type of projections used. We conclude that precise mathematical methods were used to produce the atlas. We also discuss the dating of the manuscript and its possible author and confirm the dates 649-684 (early Tang dynasty) as most probable based on available evidence. This is at variance with a prior estimate around +940. Finally we present a brief comparison with later sky maps, both in China and in Europe.Comment: 19 pages, 5 Tables, 8 Figure

Simple identification tools in FishBase

Simple identification tools for fish species were included in the FishBase information system from its inception. Early tools made use of the relational model and characters like fin ray meristics. Soon pictures and drawings were added as a further help, similar to a field guide. Later came the computerization of existing dichotomous keys, again in combination with pictures and other information, and the ability to restrict possible species by country, area, or taxonomic group. Today, www.FishBase.org offers four different ways to identify species. This paper describes these tools with their advantages and disadvantages, and suggests various options for further development. It explores the possibility of a holistic and integrated computeraided strategy

Content based image retrieval for bio-medical images

Content Based Image Retrieval System (CBIR) is used to retrieve images similar to the query image. These systems have a wide range of applications in various fields. Medical subject headings, key words, and bibliographic references can be augmented with the images present within the articles to help clinicians to potentially improve the relevance of articles found in the querying process. In this research, image feature analysis and classification techniques are explored to differentiate images found in biomedical articles which have been categorized based on modality and utility. Examples of features examined in this research include: features based on different histograms of the image, texture features, fractal dimensions etc. Classification algorithms used for categorization were 1) Mean shift clustering 2) Radial basis clustering. Different combinations of features were selected for classification purposes and it was observed that features incorporating soft decision based HSV histogram features give the best results. A library of features was then developed which can be used in RapidMiner. Experimental results for various combinations of features have also been included --Abstract, page iii

Exploring the Role of Interdisciplinarity in Physics: Success, Talent and Luck

Although interdisciplinarity is often touted as a necessity for modern research, the evidence on the relative impact of sectorial versus to interdisciplinary science is qualitative at best. In this paper we leverage the bibliographic data set of the American Physical Society to quantify the role of interdisciplinarity in physics, and that of talent and luck in achieving success in scientific careers. We analyze a period of 30 years (1980-2009) tagging papers and their authors by means of the Physics and Astronomy Classification Scheme (PACS), to show that some degree of interdisciplinarity is quite helpful to reach success, measured as a proxy of either the number of articles or the citations score. We also propose an agent-based model of the publication-reputation-citation dynamics reproduces the trends observed in the APS data set. On the one hand, the results highlight the crucial role of randomness and serendipity in real scientific research; on the other, they shed light on a counter-intuitive effect indicating that the most talented authors are not necessarily the most successful ones.Comment: 21 pages, 19 figure

A COMPREHENSIVE REVIEW ON ADULTERATION OF RAW MATERIALS USED IN ASU DRUG MANUFACTURING

Ayurveda is a system of Indian traditional form of alternative medicine. In 20th and 21th century due to side effects of synthetic drugs, there is an increasing interesting ASU medicine. At present the adulteration of the herbal drugs is the burning problem in ASU herbal industry and it has caused a major problem in the research on commercial natural products. The deforestation and extinction of many species and incorrect identification of many plants has resulted in adulteration and substitution of raw drugs. The future development of analysis of herbs is largely depended upon reliable methodologies for correct identification, standardization and quality assurance of Ayurvedic drugs. In India normally the contamination/adulteration in food/crude drugs is done either for financial gain or due to carelessness and lack in proper hygienic condition of processing, storing, transportation and marketing. Medicinal plants constitute an effective source of traditional and modern medicine. Adulteration is considered as an intentional addition of foreign substances to increase the weight of the product or to decrease its cost. It may be due to- Confusion in vernacular names, Lack of knowledge about authentic plants, Non availability, Similarity in morphology, activity, aroma, Careless collection and other unknown reasons. This article throws a light on adulteration, types, common market adulterants in ASU medicines and prescribed Prevention methods

A method for mapping morphological convergence on three-dimensional digital models: the case of the mammalian sabre-tooth

Morphological convergence can be assessed using a variety of statistical methods. None of the methods proposed to date enable the visualization of convergence. All are based on the assumption that the phenotypes either converge, or do not. However, between species, morphologically similar regions of a larger structure may behave differently. Previous approaches do not identify these regions within the larger structures or quantify the degree to which they may contribute to overall convergence. Here, we introduce a new method to chart patterns of convergence on three-dimensional models using the R function conv.map. The convergence between pairs of models is mapped onto them to visualize and quantify the morphological convergence. We applied conv.map to a well-known case study, the sabre-tooth morphotype, which has evolved independently among distinct mammalian clades from placentals to metatherians. Although previous authors have concluded that sabre-tooths kill using a stabbing ‘bite’ to the neck, others have presented different interpretations for specific taxa, including the iconic Smilodon and Thylacosmilus. Our objective was to identify any shared morphological features among the sabre-tooths that may underpin similar killing behaviours. From a sample of 49 placental and metatherian carnivores, we found stronger convergence among sabre-tooths than for any other taxa. The morphological convergence is most apparent in the rostral and posterior parts of the cranium. The extent of this convergence suggests similarity in function among these phylogenetically distant species. In our view, this function is most likely to be the killing of relatively large prey using a stabbing bite. © 2021 The Authors. Palaeontology published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of The Palaeontological Association

Species boundaries in bats: a philosophical, morphometric, environmental, and phylogenetic analysis of the genera Anoura, Carollia and Sturnira

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Boston UniversitySpecies are central to evolutionary biology, systematics and taxonomy. However, their precise definition and diagnosis is not straightforward. Species may be purely nominal constructs of the human mind or they may be real entities. Part of the difficulty of defining and diagnosing species lies in the continuous nature of variation from the level of the individual to the population, subspecies and species. It is here where systematics and taxonomy become challenging and exciting tools for understanding life on the planet. For bats, most of the efforts to describe and differentiate species have been qualitative. This may have worked in earlier times, during the first efforts to describe and name species. But, more recently, our perspectives have become sharper and the shortcomings of the qualitative approach have become obvious. This thesis is a collection of published essays, submitted studies, and ongoing research into the boundaries of bat species. In each chapter, I stress that species are not ideas or categories in the mind, but are real entities, based on testable hypotheses about the distribution of character states within multiorganismal entities. Therefore, these hypotheses and distributions of character states should optimally be analyzed through the prism of statistical inference. The dynamics of size and shape in the genus Anoura are discussed in the context of the space occupied by the different species within the genus, with novel insights into the interpretation of the distribution of these species in morphospace. For boundaries in the genus Carollia, I reassess current taxonomical knowledge, analyze morphological variation in relation to the environment, and the statistical uncertainty of species discrimination. In the species-rich genus Sturnira, I analyze a large morphological dataset for several species from Ecuador, describe a new species (S. peria) synonymize an old one (S. luisi), and provide a new perspective on phylogenetic relationships and species boundaries