Learning Segmentation Masks with the Independence Prior

An instance with a bad mask might make a composite image that uses it look fake. This encourages us to learn segmentation by generating realistic composite images. To achieve this, we propose a novel framework that exploits a new proposed prior called the independence prior based on Generative Adversarial Networks (GANs). The generator produces an image with multiple category-specific instance providers, a layout module and a composition module. Firstly, each provider independently outputs a category-specific instance image with a soft mask. Then the provided instances' poses are corrected by the layout module. Lastly, the composition module combines these instances into a final image. Training with adversarial loss and penalty for mask area, each provider learns a mask that is as small as possible but enough to cover a complete category-specific instance. Weakly supervised semantic segmentation methods widely use grouping cues modeling the association between image parts, which are either artificially designed or learned with costly segmentation labels or only modeled on local pairs. Unlike them, our method automatically models the dependence between any parts and learns instance segmentation. We apply our framework in two cases: (1) Foreground segmentation on category-specific images with box-level annotation. (2) Unsupervised learning of instance appearances and masks with only one image of homogeneous object cluster (HOC). We get appealing results in both tasks, which shows the independence prior is useful for instance segmentation and it is possible to unsupervisedly learn instance masks with only one image.Comment: 7+5 pages, 13 figures, Accepted to AAAI 201

Fluid inclusion and H-O-C isotope geochemistry of the Yaochong porphyry Mo deposit in Dabie Shan, China: a case study of porphyry systems in continental collision orogens

The Yaochong porphyry Mo deposit in Xinxian County, Henan Province, China, is located in the Hong'an terrane, that is, the western part of the Dabie orogen. The Dabie orogen is part of a > 1,500 km long, Triassic continental collision belt between the North China Block and the South China Block. Four types of vein are present. Paragenetically, from early to late, they are as follows: stage 1 quartz + K-feldspar +/- A pyrite +/- A magnetite vein; stage 2 quartz + K-feldspar + molybdenite +/- A pyrite vein; stage 3 quartz + polymetallic sulfides +/- A K-feldspar vein; and stage 4 quartz +/- A carbonate +/- A fluorite vein. Four compositional types of fluid inclusion, pure CO2, CO2 bearing, aqueous, and solid bearing, are present in quartz from the first three stages; only low-salinity aqueous fluid inclusions occur in quartz from the last stage. All the estimated salinities are a parts per thousand currency sign13.1 wt% NaCl eq., and no halite crystals were identified. Homogenization temperatures for the fluid inclusions from stages 1 to 4 are in the ranges of 262-501, 202-380, 168-345, and 128-286 A degrees C, respectively, and estimated depths decrease from 6.9 to 8.9 km, through 6.2-7.2, to similar to 4.7 km. Quartz separates from the veins yielded a delta O-18 value of 7.7-11.2 aEuro degrees, corresponding to delta O-18(H2O) values of -1.3 to 6.9 aEuro degrees using temperature estimates from fluid inclusion data; delta D-H2O values of fluid inclusion vary from -80 to -55 aEuro degrees, and delta C-13(CO2) from -2.3 to 2.7 aEuro degrees, suggesting that the ore-fluids evolved from magmatic to meteoric sources. We conclude that the ore-forming fluid system at Yaochong was initially high temperature, high salinity, and CO2-rich and then progressively evolved to CO2-poor, lower salinity, and lower temperature, by mixing with meteoric water, which results in ore precipitation.Geosciences, MultidisciplinarySCI(E)[email protected]

Metrology Camera System of Prime Focus Spectrograph for Subaru Telescope

The Prime Focus Spectrograph (PFS) is a new optical/near-infrared multi-fiber spectrograph designed for the prime focus of the 8.2m Subaru telescope. PFS will cover a 1.3 degree diameter field with 2394 fibers to complement the imaging capabilities of Hyper SuprimeCam. To retain high throughput, the final positioning accuracy between the fibers and observing targets of PFS is required to be less than 10um. The metrology camera system (MCS) serves as the optical encoder of the fiber motors for the configuring of fibers. MCS provides the fiber positions within a 5um error over the 45 cm focal plane. The information from MCS will be fed into the fiber positioner control system for the closed loop control. MCS will be located at the Cassegrain focus of Subaru telescope in order to to cover the whole focal plane with one 50M pixel Canon CMOS camera. It is a 380mm Schmidt type telescope which generates a uniform spot size with a 10 micron FWHM across the field for reasonable sampling of PSF. Carbon fiber tubes are used to provide a stable structure over the operating conditions without focus adjustments. The CMOS sensor can be read in 0.8s to reduce the overhead for the fiber configuration. The positions of all fibers can be obtained within 0.5s after the readout of the frame. This enables the overall fiber configuration to be less than 2 minutes. MCS will be installed inside a standard Subaru Cassgrain Box. All components that generate heat are located inside a glycol cooled cabinet to reduce the possible image motion due to heat. The optics and camera for MCS have been delivered and tested. The mechanical parts and supporting structure are ready as of spring 2016. The integration of MCS will start in the summer of 2016.Comment: 11 pages, 15 figures. SPIE proceeding. arXiv admin note: text overlap with arXiv:1408.287

Metrology Camera System of Prime Focus Spectrograph for Subaru Telescope

The Prime Focus Spectrograph (PFS) is a new optical/near-infrared multi-fiber spectrograph designed for the prime focus of the 8.2m Subaru telescope. The metrology camera system of PFS serves as the optical encoder of the COBRA fiber motors for the configuring of fibers. The 380mm diameter aperture metrology camera will locate at the Cassegrain focus of Subaru telescope to cover the whole focal plane with one 50M pixel Canon CMOS sensor. The metrology camera is designed to provide the fiber position information within 5{\mu}m error over the 45cm focal plane. The positions of all fibers can be obtained within 1s after the exposure is finished. This enables the overall fiber configuration to be less than 2 minutes.Comment: 10 pages, 12 figures, SPIE Astronomical Telescopes and Instrumentation 201

The P Protein of Spring Viremia of Carp Virus Negatively Regulates the Fish Interferon Response by Inhibiting the Kinase Activity of TANK-Binding Kinase 1

Spring viremia of carp virus (SVCV) is an efficient pathogen causing high mortality in the common carp. Fish interferon (IFN) is a powerful cytokine enabling host cells to establish an antiviral response; therefore, the strategies that SVCV uses to avoid the cellular IFN response were investigated. Here, we report that the SVCV P protein is phosphorylated by cellular TANK-binding kinase 1 (TBK1), which decreases IFN regulatory factor 3 (IRF3) phosphorylation and suppresses IFN production. First, overexpression of P protein inhibited the IFN promoter activation induced by SVCV and the IFN activity activated by the mitochondrial antiviral signaling protein (MAVS) although TBK1 activity was not blocked by P protein. Second, P protein colocalized and interacted with TBK1. Dominant negative experiments suggested that the TBK1 N-terminal kinase domain interacted with P protein and was essential for P protein and IRF3 phosphorylation. Finally, P protein overexpression reduced the IRF3 phosphorylation activated by TBK1 and reduced host cellular ifn transcription. Collectively, our data demonstrated that the SVCV P protein is a decoy substrate for the host phosphokinase TBK1, preventing IFN production and facilitating SVCV replication. IMPORTANCE TBK1 is a pivotal phosphokinase that activates host IFN production to defend against viral infection; thus, it is a potential target for viruses to negatively regulate IFN response and facilitate viral evasion. We report that the SVCV P protein functions as a decoy substrate for cellular TBK1, leading to the reduction of IRF3 phosphorylation and suppression of IFN expression. These findings reveal a novel immune evasion mechanism of SVCV.</p

InGaN-based light-emitting diodes with an embedded conical air-voids structure

The conical air-void structure of an InGaN light-emitting diode (LEDs) was formed at the GaN/sapphire interface to increase the light extraction efficiency. The fabrication process of the conical air-void structure consisted of a dry process and a crystallographic wet etching process on an undoped GaN layer, followed by a re-growth process for the InGaN LED structure. A higher light output power (1.54 times) and a small divergent angle (120o) were observed, at a 20mA operation current, on the treated LED structure when compared to a standard LED without the conical air-void structure. In this electroluminescence spectrum, the emission intensity and the peak wavelength varied periodically by corresponding to the conical air-void patterns that were measured through a 100nm-optical-aperture fiber probe. The conical air-void structure reduced the compressed strain at the GaN/sapphire interface by inducing the wavelength blueshift phenomenon and the higher internal quantum efficiency of the photoluminescence spectra for the treated LED structure