Deep GrabCut for Object Selection

Most previous bounding-box-based segmentation methods assume the bounding box tightly covers the object of interest. However it is common that a rectangle input could be too large or too small. In this paper, we propose a novel segmentation approach that uses a rectangle as a soft constraint by transforming it into an Euclidean distance map. A convolutional encoder-decoder network is trained end-to-end by concatenating images with these distance maps as inputs and predicting the object masks as outputs. Our approach gets accurate segmentation results given sloppy rectangles while being general for both interactive segmentation and instance segmentation. We show our network extends to curve-based input without retraining. We further apply our network to instance-level semantic segmentation and resolve any overlap using a conditional random field. Experiments on benchmark datasets demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed approaches.Comment: BMVC 201

Comment on ``Periodic wave functions and number of extended states in random dimer systems'

There are no periodic wave-functions in the RDM but close to the critical energies there exist periodic envelopes. These envelopes are given by the non-disordered properties of the system.Comment: RevTex file, 1 page, Comment X. Huang, X. Wu and C. Gong, Phys. Rev. B 55, 11018 (1997

Effect of Lipid Composition on Nanostructured Lipid Carrier (NLC) on Ubiquinone Effectiveness as an Anti-aging Cosmetics

The purpose of this research is to determine the optimum composition of solid lipid and liquid lipid in order to increase the penetration and effectiveness of Q10 as antioxidant in anti-aging cosmetics. Solid lipid and liquid lipid used in this study were cetyl palmitate and caprylic, which were combined to four (4) different ratios, namely 10:0; 9:1; 7:3 and 5:5. NLC Q10 in this study was produced by high shear homogenization method at 3400 rpm for 5 cycles and at 24000 for 1 cycle. The fourth formula was evaluated in term of characteristics, penetration and effectiveness. From the pH test , it was known that all formulas met the skin pH range (4.0-6.0). For the particle size test , all formulas (NLC 1 - NLC 4) were in the range from 269.13 to 354.77 nm with NLC 3 (7: 3) had the smallest particle size. The results of viscosity and surface tension test were also consistent with the theory, where the addition of liquid lipid reduced viscosity and surface tension of the system. The entrapment efficiency (EE) demonstrated the EE of NLC 1: 22.24%; NLC 2: 24.71%; NLC 3: 58.21% and NLC 4:36.94%. The penetration test showed all systems were able to penetrate the dermis layer at the 5th hour. NLC 3 (7:3) had more rapid onset, while the NLC Q10 with the ratio of lipid 9:1, had slower onset of action but can penetrate farther than the other NLC Q10 system. The result of Q10 effectiveness test showed NLC 2 (9:1) has lowest total macrophage (23.33) and very dense collagen observation (score : 4). From this research, it can be concluded that NLC 2 (9:1) had the most optimal lipid composition to increase the penetration and effectiveness of Q10 as an antioxidant in anti-aging cosmetics

Biopigment Tracing of Mangrove Rhizophora mucronata Leaf and Bark Waste and Its Application for Batik Dyeing by Multiple Fixations

The purpose of this research is to determine the pigments in the bark and leaves of mangrove (Rhizophora mucronata), to analyze rate of color fastness in batik, level of consumer interest, and most effective pricing for the resulting batik products. This research focused on the leaves and barks of mangrove plants. The leaves and barks were extracted to be used as dyeing agents, after which the batk fabrics were fixated using alum, limestone, and lotus. This descriptive research employed UV-Vis spectrophotometry to identify pigment and Adobe Photoshop computer program to perform color fastness analysis. The result showed that chlorophyll is a pigment associated to the blackish-green hue was tannin, and that which was associated with red was flavonoid and quinone. The various colors were applied in batik dyeing process, which resulted in a range of color from yellow to dark brown. Colorfastness test of batik dyed with mangrove-derived pigments on wash air dry, wash press dry, and wash sundry using calico as fabric showed that alum and limestone fixated fabric had the least color fastness, while conversely, lotus-fixated fabric displayed good color retention

Effects of Warm Up Intensity on Factors Related to Subsequent Performance of Submaximal Exercise

Introduction: Athletes often warm up (WU) prior to exercise to improve performance. However, there are no clear directives regarding the intensity of the WU that is most effective in improving physiological responses related to enhanced aerobic performance. Methods: Nine college-aged men (age, ht, mass, 20.6 yr, 1.7 m, 84.8 kg, respectively) performed WU of varying intensities, 60% ventilatory threshold (VT), 100%VT, and 120%VT prior to performing 5 min of steady state exercise at 80%VT on a cycle ergometer. O2 deficit, RPE, steady state heart rate (HRss), and steady state VO2 (VO2ss) were measured during the exercise bout. Results: There was a significant decrease in O2 deficit as WU intensity increased ((2,9)= 9.15, p = .002, 2=0.53) with the deficit being lowest after WU at 120%VT. RPE were significantly lower after WU at 120%VT than both 60% and 100%VT (=(2,9)=6.88, p=.007, 2=0.46). However, WU intensity did not significantly affect either HRss (F(2,9)=0.48, p=0.63) or VO2ss (F(2,9)=1.10, p=0.36) during the exercise bout. Conclusion: The findings suggest that a higher intensity WU improves factors related to improved aerobic performance, i.e. decreased O2 deficit and RPE, without adversely affecting factors that could lead to a decline in performance, i.e. increased HRss and VO2ss

Conformal invariance studies of the Baxter-Wu model and a related site-colouring problem

The partition function of the Baxter-Wu model is exactly related to the generating function of a site-colouring problem on a hexagonal lattice. We extend the original Bethe ansatz solution of these models in order to obtain the eigenspectra of their transfer matrices in finite geometries and general toroidal boundary conditions. The operator content of these models are studied by solving numerically the Bethe-ansatz equations and by exploring conformal invariance. Since the eigenspectra are calculated for large lattices, the corrections to finite-size scaling are also calculated.Comment: 12 pages, latex, to appear in J. Phys. A: Gen. Mat

COUPLING CHIRAL BOSONS TO GRAVITY

The chiral boson actions of Floreanini and Jackiw (FJ), and of McClain,Wu and Yu (MWY) have been recently shown to be different representations of the same chiral boson theory. MWY displays manifest covariance and also a (gauge) symmetry that is hidden in the FJ side, which, on the other hand, displays the physical spectrum in a simple manner. We make use of the covariance of the MWY representation for the chiral boson to couple it to background gravity showing explicitly the equivalence with the previous results for the FJ representationComment: 8 pages, Latex, no figure

Child Care Costs and Mothers' Labor Supply: An Empirical Analysis for Germany

This study analyzes the effect of child care costs on the labor supply of mothers with preschool children in Germany using data from the German Socio-Economic Panel (2002). Child care costs are estimated on the basis of a sample selection model. A structural household utility model, which is embedded in a detailed tax-benefit model, is used for labor supply estimation. In contrast to a previous German study, I find significant effects of child care costs on mother's labor supply. Compared to other countries such as the US, Canada or the UK, the effects are rather small, which can be explained by the fact that child care costs are already heavily subsidized in Germany.Child care costs; Labor supply estimation