Discovering Class-Specific Pixels for Weakly-Supervised Semantic Segmentation

We propose an approach to discover class-specific pixels for the weakly-supervised semantic segmentation task. We show that properly combining saliency and attention maps allows us to obtain reliable cues capable of significantly boosting the performance. First, we propose a simple yet powerful hierarchical approach to discover the class-agnostic salient regions, obtained using a salient object detector, which otherwise would be ignored. Second, we use fully convolutional attention maps to reliably localize the class-specific regions in a given image. We combine these two cues to discover class-specific pixels which are then used as an approximate ground truth for training a CNN. While solving the weakly supervised semantic segmentation task, we ensure that the image-level classification task is also solved in order to enforce the CNN to assign at least one pixel to each object present in the image. Experimentally, on the PASCAL VOC12 val and test sets, we obtain the mIoU of 60.8% and 61.9%, achieving the performance gains of 5.1% and 5.2% compared to the published state-of-the-art results. The code is made publicly available

An improved Agrobacterium mediated transformation in tomato using hygromycin as a selective agent

Bacterial wilt is a devastating disease of tomato crop throughout the world. This disease is very dangerous in hot and humid regions, where it spreads with the irrigation water to whole field within days, which resulted in severe decline in yield. Two varieties of tomato were used for developingbacterial wilt resistance. Riogrande responded more efficiently as compared to Roma. Regeneration frequency of 90.6% was achieved when leaf discs were used and 82.5% when hypocotyls were used as explant for tomato cv. Riogrande. While 65.4% regeneration was achieved from hypocotyls and 72.6% regeneration was obtained when leaf discs were used as explant for cv. Roma. Explants were cocultivated with Agrobacterium strain EHA101 containing a binary vector pTCL5, having hygromycin phosphotransferase (HPT) gene which confers resistance to hygromycin and -glucuronidase (GUS) gene in addition to Xa21 gene. Hygromycin (25 mg/l) was used as selectable marker while GUS is areporter gene. Acetosyringone (50 mM) enhanced transformation effeciency. Preselection period of 7 days was found to be indispensable for successful transformation of tomato crop. Transformation efficiency of 24% was observed for Riogrande and 8% for Roma. Molecular analysis of transgenic plants produced was carried out for hygromycin resistance gene. Transgenic plants contained the expected band of 670 bp. PCR analysis confirmed the foreign DNA in to the plant genome

Long-Term Structural Price Relationships in Real Estate Markets

This study investigates the long-run stochastic properties of real estate assets by geographical breakdown. We also study their linkages with financial assets. The initial tests find that almost all property types exhibit the presence of nonstationarity. Thus, cointegrated methodologies are used. Structural breakpoints identified in the literature are used as a guide to divide the data into two windows, 1983-1989 and 1990-1996. The results show that real estate in the different regions exhibit a closer relationship with each other in the second period, compared with the first. Also, strong linkages between real estate regions and financial assets are noted in the second period. The South is the only region to exhibit segmentation in both periods. Overall, the information derived from our analysis sheds light on linkages among real estate assets and between real estate and financial assets and also provides a framework for creating diversified portfolios.

Novel fluid biomarkers to differentiate frontotemporal dementia and dementia with Lewy bodies from Alzheimer's disease: A systematic review

RATIONALE: Frontotemporal dementia (FTD) and dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB) are two common forms of neurodegenerative dementia, subsequent to Alzheimer's disease (AD). AD is the only dementia that includes clinically validated cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) biomarkers in the diagnostic criteria. FTD and DLB often overlap with AD in their clinical and pathological features, making it challenging to differentiate between these conditions. AIM: This systematic review aimed to identify if novel fluid biomarkers are useful in differentiating FTD and DLB from AD. Increasing the certainty of the differentiation between dementia subtypes would be advantageous clinically and in research. METHODS: PubMed and Scopus were searched for studies that quantified and assessed diagnostic accuracy of novel fluid biomarkers in clinically diagnosed patients with FTD or DLB, in comparison to patients with AD. Meta-analyses were performed on biomarkers that were quantified in 3 studies or more. RESULTS: The search strategy yielded 614 results, from which, 27 studies were included. When comparing bio-fluid levels in AD and FTD patients, neurofilament light chain (NfL) level was often higher in FTD, whilst brain soluble amyloid precursor protein β (sAPPβ) was higher in patients with AD. When comparing bio-fluid levels in AD and DLB patients, α-synuclein ensued heterogeneous findings, while the noradrenaline metabolite (MHPG) was found to be lower in DLB. Ratios of Aβ42/Aβ38 and Aβ42/Aβ40 were lower in AD than FTD and DLB and offered better diagnostic accuracy than raw amyloid-β (Aβ) concentrations. CONCLUSIONS: Several promising novel biomarkers were highlighted in this review. Combinations of fluid biomarkers were more often useful than individual biomarkers in distinguishing subtypes of dementia. Considering the heterogeneity in methods and results between the studies, further validation, ideally with longitudinal prospective designs with large sample sizes and unified protocols, are fundamental before conclusions can be finalised

Wind tunnel site analysis of Dow Chemical Facility at Rocky Flats, Colorado

CER71-72RNM-FC-451.May 1972.Prepared for Research and Ecology, Rocky Flats Division, Dow Chemical Company.Includes bibliographical references.Tests were conducted on a model of the Dow Chemical Company plutonium recovery facility, Rocky Flats Division, and the surrounding topography to determine the dispersal and trajectories of potential effluents. Profiles of wind and turbulence over the facility were adjusted to forms expected for the given terrain. Dispersion and trajectory characteristics were determined by releasing a krypton-85 tracer gas from specific sources and sampling the plume downwind. Results suggest that the plumes depart only modestly from behavior suggested by the Pasquill-Gifford prediction methods. All results are tabulated and/or presented in a dimensionless manner suitable for prototype site evaluation

Effect of explant plant source and acetosyringone concentration on transformation efficiency of wheat cultivars

Gene introduction into crop plants through genetic manipulation is a better alternative to conventional breeding for the improvement of stress tolerance. Agrobacterium-mediated transformation offers precise integration of genes into the genome with enhanced transgene stability. There are a number of factors which influence the rate of genetic transformation. The theme of this study is to exploit the explant source and acetosyringone concentration for the efficient development of Agrobacterium-mediated gene delivery system in wheat cultivars Inqilab 91 and Chakwal 97. Seedlings, mature embryos and calli used as explant sources for transformation in both the cultivars showed positive response. It was further observed that mature embryos produced maximum transformation efficiencies of 40.0 and 36.25% with 37.5 and 31.03% of regeneration frequencies of transgenic plants for Chakwal 97 and Inqilab 91, respectively. Seedlings produced 33.75 and 27.5% while calli produced 26.25 and 22.5% transformation efficiencies for both the cultivars. Acetosyringone concentration is also a limiting factor in transformation experiments especially in the case of cereals crop. Different concentrations of acetosyringone were used at the time of co-cultivation for optimization of the transformation protocol and maximum transformation efficiencies of 52.44 and 47.56% were obtained with 50 μM of acetosyringone from the cultivars Chakwal 97 and Inqilab 91, respectively.Key words: Wheat, agrobacterium, transformation, explant, acetosyringone

Study of wind pressure and air quality around Children's Hospital, National Medical Center

CER70-71FHC-JEC55.March 1971.Prepared under contract to Leo A. Daly Company.Includes bibliographical references.Tests were conducted on a model of the proposed Children's Hospital Facility constructed (1:192 scale) in the Colorado State University Meteorological Wind Tunnel to determine air quality and air pressures around the building. The pressure measurements concentrated on the mean and RMS of the fluctuating pressure at selected locations. Air quality measurements were made by releasing Krypton-85 from specific sources of pollution and sampling it at all the intakes around the building. Data are presented in a manner that these can be directly used to evaluate pressures and air quality. Also, based on these data, recommendations are made on locating the air-conditioning intakes and the sources of pollution