Unifying and Merging Well-trained Deep Neural Networks for Inference Stage

We propose a novel method to merge convolutional neural-nets for the inference stage. Given two well-trained networks that may have different architectures that handle different tasks, our method aligns the layers of the original networks and merges them into a unified model by sharing the representative codes of weights. The shared weights are further re-trained to fine-tune the performance of the merged model. The proposed method effectively produces a compact model that may run original tasks simultaneously on resource-limited devices. As it preserves the general architectures and leverages the co-used weights of well-trained networks, a substantial training overhead can be reduced to shorten the system development time. Experimental results demonstrate a satisfactory performance and validate the effectiveness of the method.Comment: To appear in the 27th International Joint Conference on Artificial Intelligence and the 23rd European Conference on Artificial Intelligence, 2018. (IJCAI-ECAI 2018

Genetic Variation of Wood Density in Luanta Fir Tested in Central Taiwan

Forty-nine wind-pollinated families representing 8 provenances of Luanta fir (Cunninghamia konishii) were sampled from the species' range in Taiwan. The study plantation was established in central Taiwan with 49 ten-tree linear plots in each of 5 blocks in the randomized complete block design. In July 1998 at plantation age 25, a 0.45-cm caliber increment core sample was extracted at breast height in the east cardinal direction from the best tree per plot; altogether 245 cores (1 core/family/plot X 49 families X 5 blocks) were sampled. From each core, only the 6 outermost growth rings (near the bark) were used to determine extracted specific gravity according to the maximum moisture content method. Genetic variations among provenances and among families within provenances were tested following a general linear model. There was no apparent geographic variation pattern, and the main source of specific gravity variation was attributable to differences among families within provenance. Overall specific gravity was 0.36 and the narrow-sense family heritability was 0.46. Wood specific gravity is strongly controlled by additive genetic variance, suggesting that this trait would respond to selection breeding. The importance of family selection was emphasized in the improvement of this wood property in Taiwan

Crushing Strength Sampling With Minimal Damage to Taiwania (Taiwania Cryptomerioides) Using a Fractometer

The Fractometer is a device that stresses radial increment cores in the direction of the fiber to measure crushing strength, which can provide a direct wood quality indicator for structural lumber. This study analyzes the pattern of the radial variation in Taiwania (Taiwania cryptomerioides Hay.) trunk wood crushing strength to explore its effect on the precision and efficiency of the sampling procedure in the outer increment core zone as an alternate nondestructive sampling method. A pith-to-bark 0.5-cm caliber core was extracted at breast height (1.3 m above the ground) from each tree and was separated into individual section groups. Then individual crushing strengths were determined using the Fractometer.In this study, the variation in crushing strength in the transverse direction increased from the pith outward to the bark side. An analysis of variance and correlation analysis were used to evaluate the data. The magnitude of the radial variation in crushing strength was smaller than the tree-to-tree variation. Including samples of at least 7.2 cm, 5.4 cm, and 2.4 cm near the bark side was found to be acceptable for the assessment of wood crushing strength for trees of Type A (DBH > 27 cm), Type B (DBH = 23~27 cm), and Type C (DBH > 23 cm), respectively

Evaluation of Wood Quality of Taiwania Trees Grown with Different Thinning and Pruning Treatments Using Ultrasonic-Wave Testing

The variations of Vtree, Vlumber, MOEtree, and MOElumber in the thinning and pruning treatments showed the similar trend. Results of this study also demonstrate that the effect of silvicultural practices on wood properties can be identified with the ultrasonic-wave properties of trees. This indicates that this non-destructive ultrasonic-wave technique can be provided basic information for future management practice and wood utilization of Taiwania

Consistência da gordura abdominal de frango, de suas estearinas e de suas misturas binárias com toucinho

A consistência é uma das propriedades físicas mais importantes das gorduras, pois se encontra diretamente associada às suas diversas aplicações. Esta propriedade pode ser considerada como um aspecto funcional relevante das gorduras plásticas, que são misturas de cristais de gordura sólida e óleo líquido. Os cristais de gordura formam uma rede tridimensional, que comunica plasticidade ao material. O objetivo deste trabalho foi analisar as interações que ocorrem em misturas binárias de duas gorduras animais (abdominal de frango e de toucinho) quanto a sua propriedade de consistência em diferentes temperaturas. As amostras foram analisadas quanto à composição em ácidos graxos e à consistência, às temperaturas de 10 a 25 ºC. Utilizou-se o analisador de textura TA-XT2 (Stable Micro Systems). Aplicou-se um modelo de regressão múltipla do tipo quadrático. Os resultados demonstraram que ocorreu o efeito eutético entre as estearinas obtidas no fracionamento da gordura de frango e a gordura de toucinho. Por outro lado, nas misturas entre gordura de frango e gordura de toucinho ocorreu efeito sinérgico, caracterizando a formação de compostos.Consistency is one of the most important physical properties of fats since it is directly associated with its several applications. This property can be considered an important functional aspect of the plastic fats, which are a mixture of solid and liquid fat phase. The fat solid phase forms a tridimentional lattice arising plasticity to the fat. The objective of this paper was to analyze the interactions that occur in binary mixtures of two animal fats (abdominal chicken fat and bacon fat), regarding their consistency at different temperatures. The samples were analyzed for the fatty acid composition and for the consistency at the temperatures of 10 to 25 ºC. The texture analyzer TA-XT2 (Stable Micro Systems) was utilized. A mathematical model of multiple regression of the quadratic type was applied. The results showed that the eutectic effect was observed between the binary mixtures of stearins and bacon fat. On the other hand, mixtures between abdominal chicken fat and bacon fat showed a synergic effect (compound formation)

Effect of Moisture Content on the Drill Resistance Value in Taiwania Plantation Wood

The effect of moisture content (MC) on the drill resistance values during desorption from a watersaturated condition of Taiwania (Taiwania cryptomerioides Hayta) plantation lumber was examined. Results showed that the drill resistance values tended to decrease with the decreasing of MC. Positive significant relationships were found among the MC, bulk density, and drill resistance values. This adjustment of density profiles could help the RESISTOGRAPH® to achieve a better measurement of the drill resistance profile of standing trees