Exploiting saliency for object segmentation from image level labels

There have been remarkable improvements in the semantic labelling task in the recent years. However, the state of the art methods rely on large-scale pixel-level annotations. This paper studies the problem of training a pixel-wise semantic labeller network from image-level annotations of the present object classes. Recently, it has been shown that high quality seeds indicating discriminative object regions can be obtained from image-level labels. Without additional information, obtaining the full extent of the object is an inherently ill-posed problem due to co-occurrences. We propose using a saliency model as additional information and hereby exploit prior knowledge on the object extent and image statistics. We show how to combine both information sources in order to recover 80% of the fully supervised performance - which is the new state of the art in weakly supervised training for pixel-wise semantic labelling. The code is available at https://goo.gl/KygSeb.Comment: CVPR 201

Smart economics: evaluation of Australian aid support for women’s economic empowerment

This report evaluates how effective Australia has been in achieving gender equality outcomes in economic development programs. Executive summary Promoting women’s economic empowerment is ‘smart economics’. When women are fully involved in economic development, countries become more equitable and prosperous. Worldwide, there has been steady progress for women and girls in the key sectors of health and education. However, Australia—like most donors—has had limited success in achieving gender equality outcomes in economic development programs. Last financial year, approximately 25 per cent of the Australian aid budget was invested in the economic sectors, ranging from primary industry through to the production of goods and provision of services. Australian aid support for economic development is mainly concentrated on agriculture, rural development and transport. Smaller, but still significant, amounts of aid focus on energy, trade, and business and banking. Less than a third of this economic sector investment can demonstrate an explicit focus on gender equality. This is a concern, especially given Australia’s longstanding policy of ‘mainstreaming’ gender equality in its aid program

AtlantOS Workshop Report

Report of AtlantOS-OECD Scoping Workshop on the Economic Potential of Data from Ocean Observatorie

Specific NuRD components are required for fin regeneration in zebrafish

Background: epimorphic regeneration of a missing appendage in fish and urodele amphibians involves the creation of a blastema, a heterogeneous pool of progenitor cells underneath the wound epidermis. Current evidence indicates that the blastema arises by dedifferentiation of stump tissues in the vicinity of the amputation. In response to tissue loss, silenced developmental programs are reactivated to form a near-perfect copy of the missing body part. However, the importance of chromatin regulation during epimorphic regeneration remains poorly understood.Results: we found that specific components of the Nucleosome Remodeling and Deacetylase complex (NuRD) are required for fin regeneration in zebrafish. Transcripts of the chromatin remodeler chd4a/Mi-2, the histone deacetylase hdac1/HDAC1/2, the retinoblastoma-binding protein rbb4/RBBP4/7, and the metastasis-associated antigen mta2/MTA were specifically co-induced in the blastema during adult and embryonic fin regeneration, and these transcripts displayed a similar spatial and temporal expression patterns. In addition, chemical inhibition of Hdac1 and morpholino-mediated knockdown of chd4a, mta2, and rbb4 impaired regenerative outgrowth, resulting in reduction in blastema cell proliferation and in differentiation defects.Conclusion: altogether, our data suggest that specialized NuRD components are induced in the blastema during fin regeneration and are involved in blastema cell proliferation and redifferentiation of osteoblast precursor cells. These results provide in vivo evidence for the involvement of key epigenetic factors in the cellular reprogramming processes occurring during epimorphic regeneration in zebrafish

The art of earning one’s living on a small scale organic agriculture : a qualitative interview study with focus on a sustainable food production and preserving of ecosystem services

Idag kännetecknas det svenska jordbruket framför allt av storskaliga, effektiviserade och specialiserade lantbruk med behov av flera energikrävande produktionsmedel. Negativa konsekvenser av detta lantbruk är bland annat en minskad variation av livsmiljöer i jordbrukslandskapet, en minskad biologisk mångfald och därmed en försvagning av ekosystemtjänster knutna till jordbruket. Ekosystemtjänster möjliggör liv på vår jord genom att långsiktigt understödja tillgången till framför allt mat, dricksvatten, fiber och virke samt reglera klimat och luftkvalitet. Ett uthålligt lantbruk är ett system som gynnar och använder sig av ekosystemtjänster och biologisk mångfald för att produktionen ska fungera. Forskning visar att det finns en högre artrikedom på småskaliga ekologiska gårdar än på större konventionella gårdar. Småskaliga ekologiska lantbruk kan därför ligga till grunden för att skapa ett uthålligare lantbrukssystem som långsiktigt kan producera livsmedel. Syftet med denna studie är att identifiera avgörande faktorer utifrån ett holistiskt perspektiv för att kunna försörja sig ekonomiskt på ett sådant lantbruk i dagens samhälle. Genom kvalitativa intervjuer från fyra småskaliga ekologiska lantbruk (under 20 ha åkermark) som går runt ekonomiskt kan följande gemensamma förutsättningar och tillvägagångssätt beskrivas. Gårdarna är mångfunktionella, kretsloppsbaserade och har en hög självförsörjningsgrad. De är i stort sett självförsörjande på foder och gödsel samt försöker minimera sina behov av inköpta produktionsmedel och tjänster. Hög biologisk mångfald och fungerande ekosystemtjänster är grundförutsättning för deras ekologiska produktion. På gårdarna finns genomtänkta växtföljder, artrika vallar och alla odlar en stor variation av grönsaker till husbehov och försäljning. Alla gårdar har flera olika husdjur som samspelar och uppfyller diverse uppgifter och behov. En resurssnål och självförsörjande livsstil med låga inkomster är utmärkande för lantbrukarna. För att gå runt ekonomiskt krävs det ett brinnande engagemang för gårdens betydelse för natur och människor samt en vilja att leva enkelt med mycket fysiskt arbete. Gårdarna säljer sina produkter direkt till kunden vilket har stor betydelse för lönsamheten. Lantbruksstöden kan också ha en betydande roll för försörjningen. Avslutningsvis går det att säga att ett mer uthålligt lantbrukssystem bestående av småskaliga ekologiska lantbruk står i en stark kontrast till dagens moderna högteknologiska lantbruk. Det innebär en självhushållande livsstil och att livskvalité värderas med andra mått än pengar

Type Dependent Policy Language

Remote attestation is the act of making trust decisions about a communicating party. During thisprocess, an appraiser asks a target to execute an attestation protocol that generates and returns evidence. The appraiser can then make claims about the target by evaluating the evidence. Coplandis a formally specified, executable language for representing attestation protocols. We introduceCopland centered negotiation as prerequisite to attestation to find a protocol that meets the target’s needs for constrained disclosure and the appraiser’s desire for comprehensive information. Negotiation begins when the appraiser sends a request, a Copland phrase, to the target. The target gathers all protocols that satisfy the request and then, using their privacy policy, can filter out the phrases that expose sensitive information. The target sends these phrases to the appraiser as a proposal. The appraiser then chooses the best phrase for attestation, based on situational requirementsembodied in a selection function. Our focus is statically ensuring the target does not share sensitive information though terms in the proposal, meeting their need for constrained disclosure. To accomplish this, we realize two independent implementation of the privacy and selection policies using indexed types and subset types. In using indexed types, the policy check is accomplished by indexing the term grammar with the type of evidence the term produces. The statically ensures that terms written in the language will satisfy the privacy policy criteria. In using the subset type,we statically limit the collection of terms to those that satisfy the privacy policy. This type abides by the rules of set comprehension to build a set such that all elements of the set satisfy the privacy policy. Combining our ideas for a dependently typed privacy policy and negotiation, we give the target the chance to suggest a term or terms for attestation that fits the appraiser’s needs while not disclosing sensitive information

A longitudinal study of cortical EEG activity in adolescents.

Background: The objective of this study is to test Davidson’s, and Heller and Nitschke’s models stating cortical activity in adolescents to be a marker for increased risk for depression. Methods: Alpha activity was measured in 80 adolescents from medial-frontal (F3/4), lateral-frontal (F7/8), and medial-parietal (P3/4) electrodes, as well as self-reported depression and anxiety twice within 12 months. Stepwise hierarchical regression analyses with anxiety as covariate were calculated with alpha asymmetry as predicting variable and depression as target variable and vice versa. Results: Independent of whether anxiety was used as covariate or not, frontal and parietal alpha asymmetry predict depression, but depression did not predict alpha activity. Conclusions: The results partially support both models and conclusions drawn by studies with remitted depressed subjects. However, it remains unclear if anxious arousal has a partial influence on the predictive association between alpha activity and depression

On the Ground State Multiplicity of Amino-substituted Cyclopentadienyl Cations

It has been investigated by means of ab initio quantum chemical methods (optimizations on SCF level followed by single point CISD calculations; optimizations on CASSCF level), how the singlet-triplet splitting of the mono-, 1,3-di- and 1,2,4-triaminocy- clopentadienyl cation depends on the out-of-plane angle between the substituent(s) and the antiaromatic ring fragment. It has been found that all these molecules are ground state singlets in their planar equilibrium geometries. However, singlet and triplet states are nearly degenerate, if the substituent(s) is/are rotated out of the ring plane by 90°. The impact of this finding for the search for molecules with a stable high spin ground state, which may serve as building blocks for polymers with magnetic ordering, is discussed

Diagnosing and management of iatrogenic moderate and severe ovarian hyperstymulation syndrome (OHSS) in clinical material.

Severe ovarian hyperstymulation syndrome is a rare but potentially life-threatening complication in patients undergoing assisted reproductive techniques (ART). The pathogenesis of this condition is likely to be multifactorial. The aim of the retrospective study was to present management in moderate and severe iatrogenic ovarian hyperstymulation syndrome (OHSS) in clinical material. The study group was 19 women, admitted to the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology in Central Clinical Hospital of Ministry of Interior and Administration in Warsaw from large outpatient infertility center "Novum" in Warsaw with moderate and severe OHSS between 14.07.2004 and 8.11.2005. Laboratory tests and ultrasound examination of the ovarian size and ascites were performed, abdominal circumference was measured. Patients were treated with rehydration with intravenous crystalloids and colloids, diuretics, antibiotics, anticoagulants and ultrasound-guided paracentesis if symptoms of ascites become severe (ascites causes pain and compromised pulmonary function). Oral intake of water was restricted, monitoring of fluid intake and output, and daily monitoring of body weight was performed. During treatment controlled laboratory tests were done. In one patient occurred intra-abdominal hemorrhage from ovarian rupture and laparotomy with oophorectomy was performed. The ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome is still a difficult diagnostic and therapeutic problem and more studies are required to elucidate pathophysiology of OHSS. Because of still unknown etiology treatment is empirical and in most of cases bases on experience of medical team. Thus, the management in individual patients varies according to the severity of ovarian hyperstymulation syndrome and its complications

Az elhízás jelenlegi és prognosztizált betegségterhe a magyarországi romák körében II.

Bevezetés: Az elhízás, valamint az elhízással összefüggő krónikus, nem fertőző betegségek prevalenciája növekszik a roma populációban. Az elhízás megelőzését és csökkentését célzó beavatkozások fejlesztésére és tesztelésére fordított hatalmas erőforrások ellenére kevés információ áll rendelkezésre az evidencián alapuló intervenciós programok haté- konyságáról. Célkitűzés: A roma populációban különböző életkori kategóriákban végrehajtott, eltérő intenzitású intervenciós programok hatásainak modellezése a beavatkozások végrehajtása után bekövetkezett tápláltsági állapot változásában. Módszer: A különböző népegészségügyi beavatkozások hatása a roma lakosság egészségi állapotára a Dynamic Model- ing for Health Impact Assessment szoftverrel került meghatározásra. A szerzők a kutatás során kétféle modellbeavat- kozást hasonlítottak össze: az elhízás prevenciójának egy tényezőjére, a nagy cukor-, só- és zsírtartalmú élelmiszerek reklámozásának korlátozására fókuszáló intervenciós programokat és a komplex beavatkozás elvére épülő, az életmód egészét megváltoztató intervenciós programok tápláltsági állapotra gyakorolt hatását térképezték fel. Eredmények: A roma férfiak és nők közel 20%-a szenved elhízásban jelenleg, népegészségügyi beavatkozás nélkül 2070-re a romák egyharmada lesz túlsúlyos és elhízott. Az elhízás egy tényezőjére fókuszáló intervenciós programok még akkor sem adnak érzékelhető eredményt az elhízás társbetegségeinek incidenciáját és prevalenciáját tekintve, ha a szakirodalomban bemutatott, jelenleg leghatékonyabb eljárásokat alkalmazzák. Ezen intervenciós programok hatá- sa a statisztikai kimutathatóságot is alig éri el. A teljes életmódváltást segítő intervenciós programok elsősorban a közép- és időskorú roma népesség esetén adhatnak érzékelhető eredményt. Az elhízásban szenvedő középkorú férfiak aránya 0,42%-kal, a nők aránya 0,35%-kal csökken. Következtetés: A kutatás eredményei arra hívják fel a figyelmet, hogy a roma lakosság körében a tápláltsági állapot normalizálása és az elhízás kísérő betegségeinek csökkentése komplex, rasszspecifikus beavatkozást igényel