Learning Face Age Progression: A Pyramid Architecture of GANs

The two underlying requirements of face age progression, i.e. aging accuracy and identity permanence, are not well studied in the literature. In this paper, we present a novel generative adversarial network based approach. It separately models the constraints for the intrinsic subject-specific characteristics and the age-specific facial changes with respect to the elapsed time, ensuring that the generated faces present desired aging effects while simultaneously keeping personalized properties stable. Further, to generate more lifelike facial details, high-level age-specific features conveyed by the synthesized face are estimated by a pyramidal adversarial discriminator at multiple scales, which simulates the aging effects in a finer manner. The proposed method is applicable to diverse face samples in the presence of variations in pose, expression, makeup, etc., and remarkably vivid aging effects are achieved. Both visual fidelity and quantitative evaluations show that the approach advances the state-of-the-art.Comment: CVPR 2018. V4 and V2 are the same, i.e. the conference version; V3 is a related but different work, which is mistakenly submitted and will be submitted as a new arXiv pape

Hydrothermal synthesis of reduced graphene oxide-LiNi0.5Mn1.5O4 composites as 5V cathode materials for Li-ion batteries

Composite materials consisting of reduced graphene oxide and LiNi0.5Mn1.5O4 were in situ prepared by a simple one-step hydrothermal treating method. The physical property and electrochemical performance of the composite materials were characterized by X-ray diffraction, Raman spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, cyclic voltammetry, charge/discharge testing, and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy. The results demonstrate that the graphene oxide is partially reduced and uniformly in situ anchored on the surface of LiNi0.5Mn1.5O4. As a result, the specific surface area of the composite material dramatically increases from 0.2488 to 8.71 m2 g−1, and the initial specific discharge capacity improves from 125.8 to 140.2 mAh g−1, respectively. Furthermore, the capacity retention maintains 95.8% after 100 cycles, and the electrode polarization has significantly been lessened. At rates of 1, 2, and 5 C, the composite material with 5% reduced graphene oxide can deliver much higher capacities than the pristine LiNi0.5Mn1.5O4. Moreover, AC impedance test results show that the interfacial charge transfer impedance obviously reduced. It is confirmed that the introduction of reduced graphene oxide through hydrothermal treating is effective to enhance the electrochemical performance of the composite material

GGE biplot for stability and adaptability in cashew tree clones.

The interaction genotype versus environment makes it difficult the genetic improvement of the species for the selection of more adapted and stable genotypes. Thus, the objective of this work was to evaluate new clones of early dwarf cashews, in terms of stability and adaptability, employing the GGE biplot methodology. The experimental design was based on randomized blocks with four replications and 15 treatments (different clones). The variables evaluated were cashew production per plant (PCP), average mass of chashew (MMC) and early harvest (PRE). The clones G1 and G3 for MMC, G15, G2, G14 and G8 for PRE and G3, G10 and G2 for PCP approached the ideotype; the clones identified as top for each characteristic were not coincident; the majority of the clones were stable for MMC, while for PRE and PCP were not stable; the clone G4 had the best average in PRE, but with low stability; in the GGE biplot the environments A3 for MMC, A4 to PRE and A5 for PCP were the most discriminating; all environments had greater contribution in the differentiation of clones in PRE and MMC, for PCP were the environments A4 and A5; in relation at the average representativeness the environments A1 in MMC and A2 for PRE and PCP stood out

GGE biplot for stability and adaptability in cashew tree clones.

The interaction genotype versus environment makes it difficult the genetic improvement of the species for the selection of more adapted and stable genotypes. Thus, the objective of this work was to evaluate new clones of early dwarf cashews, in terms of stability and adaptability, employing the GGE biplot methodology. The experimental design was based on randomized blocks with four replications and 15 treatments (different clones). The variables evaluated were cashew production per plant (PCP), average mass of chashew (MMC) and early harvest (PRE). The clones G1 and G3 for MMC, G15, G2, G14 and G8 for PRE and G3, G10 and G2 for PCP approached the ideotype; the clones identified as top for each characteristic were not coincident; the majority of the clones were stable for MMC, while for PRE and PCP were not stable; the clone G4 had the best average in PRE, but with low stability; in the GGE biplot the environments A3 for MMC, A4 to PRE and A5 for PCP were the most discriminating; all environments had greater contribution in the differentiation of clones in PRE and MMC, for PCP were the environments A4 and A5; in relation at the average representativeness the environments A1 in MMC and A2 for PRE and PCP stood out. = A interação genótipos versus ambientes dificulta o melhoramento genético das espécies para a seleção de genótipos adaptados e estáveis. Assim, objetivou-se com este trabalho avaliar novos clones de cajueiro-anão precoce, quanto a estabilidade e adaptabilidade, empregando a metodologia Biplot GGE. O delineamento experimental foi em blocos casualizados com quatro repetições e 15 tratamentos (diferentes clones). As variáveis avaliadas foram produção de castanha por planta (PCP), massa média de castanha (MMC) e precocidade de colheita (PRE). Os clones G1 e G3 para MMC; G15, G2, G14 e G8 para PRE e, G3, G10 e G2 para PCP se aproximaram do ideótipo; os clones identificados como superiores para cada característica não foram coincidentes; a maioria dos clones foram estáveis para MMC, enquanto que para PRE e PCP não foram estáveis; o clone G4 teve a melhor média em PRE, mas com baixa estabilidade; no GGE Biplot os ambientes A3 para MMC, A4 para PRE e A5 para PCP foram os mais discriminadores; todos os ambientes tiveram maior contribuição na diferenciação dos clones em PRE e MMC, para PCP foram os ambientes A4 e A5 e; em relação a representatividade média os ambientes A1 em MMC e A2 para PRE e PCP se destacaram

GGE biplot for stability and adaptability in cashew tree clones.

The interaction genotype versus environment makes it difficult the genetic improvement of the species for the selection of more adapted and stable genotypes. Thus, the objective of this work was to evaluate new clones of early dwarf cashews, in terms of stability and adaptability, employing the GGE biplot methodology. The experimental design was based on randomized blocks with four replications and 15 treatments (different clones). The variables evaluated were cashew production per plant (PCP), average mass of chashew (MMC) and early harvest (PRE). The clones G1 and G3 for MMC, G15, G2, G14 and G8 for PRE and G3, G10 and G2 for PCP approached the ideotype; the clones identified as top for each characteristic were not coincident; the majority of the clones were stable for MMC, while for PRE and PCP were not stable; the clone G4 had the best average in PRE, but with low stability; in the GGE biplot the environments A3 for MMC, A4 to PRE and A5 for PCP were the most discriminating; all environments had greater contribution in the differentiation of clones in PRE and MMC, for PCP were the environments A4 and A5; in relation at the average representativeness the environments A1 in MMC and A2 for PRE and PCP stood out

Semantic Web-Based Integration of Cancer Pathways and Allele Frequency Data

We demonstrate the use of Semantic Web technology to integrate the ALFRED allele frequency database and the Starpath pathway resource. The linking of population-specific genotype data with cancer-related pathway data is potentially useful given the growing interest in personalized medicine and the exploitation of pathway knowledge for cancer drug discovery. We model our data using the Web Ontology Language (OWL), drawing upon ideas from existing standard formats BioPAX for pathway data and PML for allele frequency data. We store our data within an Oracle database, using Oracle Semantic Technologies. We then query the data using Oracle’s rule-based inference engine and SPARQL-like RDF query language. The ability to perform queries across the domains of population genetics and pathways offers the potential to answer a number of cancer-related research questions. Among the possibilities is the ability to identify genetic variants which are associated with cancer pathways and whose frequency varies significantly between ethnic groups. This sort of information could be useful for designing clinical studies and for providing background data in personalized medicine. It could also assist with the interpretation of genetic analysis results such as those from genome-wide association studies

Comparative study on the synergistic effect of POSS and graphene with melamine phosphate on the flame retardance of poly(butylene succinate)

Flame retardant poly(butylene succinate) (PBS) composites were prepared by melt blending PBS with melamine phosphate (MP), using graphene or polyhedral oligomeric silsesquioxanes (POSS) as synergists. The comparative study on the effect of POSS and graphene on the mechanical, thermal properties and flammability of flame retardant PBS was investigated. The addition of POSS or graphene further improved the LOI values of the flame retardant PBS, and V0 rating was obtained for the formulation containing 18 wt % MP and 2 wt% graphene. The incorporation of POSS and graphene reduced the crystallization of PBS, but improved the tensile strength. The presence of graphene exhibited superior thermal-oxidative resistance of the char layer compared to POSS, which effectively retarded the mass and heat transfer between the flame and the burning substrate, thus the heat release rate and total heat release of the flame retardant PBS composites containing graphene was significantly reduced during combustion