Ship Detection and Segmentation using Image Correlation

There have been intensive research interests in ship detection and segmentation due to high demands on a wide range of civil applications in the last two decades. However, existing approaches, which are mainly based on statistical properties of images, fail to detect smaller ships and boats. Specifically, known techniques are not robust enough in view of inevitable small geometric and photometric changes in images consisting of ships. In this paper a novel approach for ship detection is proposed based on correlation of maritime images. The idea comes from the observation that a fine pattern of the sea surface changes considerably from time to time whereas the ship appearance basically keeps unchanged. We want to examine whether the images have a common unaltered part, a ship in this case. To this end, we developed a method - Focused Correlation (FC) to achieve robustness to geometric distortions of the image content. Various experiments have been conducted to evaluate the effectiveness of the proposed approach.Comment: 8 pages, to be published in proc. of conference IEEE SMC 201

Circular photogalvanic effect induced by near-infrared radiation in InAs quantum wires patterned quasi two-dimensional electron system

In this work we investigated the InAs/InAlAs quantum wires (QWRs) superlattice by optically exciting the structure with near-infrared radiation. By varying the helicity of the radiation at room temperature we observed the circular photogalvanic effect related to the $C_{2v}$ symmetry of the structure, which could be attributed to the formation of a quasi two-dimensional system underlying in the vicinity of the QWRs pattern. The ratio of Rashba and Dresselhaus terms shows an evolution of the spin-orbit interaction in quasi two-dimensional structure with the QWR layer deposition thickness.Comment: 9 pages, 3 figure

Microbiota and bile acid profiles in retinoic acid-primed mice that exhibit accelerated liver regeneration.

Background & aimsAll-trans Retinoic acid (RA) regulates hepatic lipid and bile acid homeostasis. Similar to bile acid (BA), RA accelerates partial hepatectomy (PHx)-induced liver regeneration. Because there is a bidirectional regulatory relationship between gut microbiota and BA synthesis, we examined the effect of RA in altering the gut microbial population and BA composition and established their relationship with hepatic biological processes during the active phases of liver regeneration.MethodsC57BL/6 mice were treated with RA orally followed by 2/3 PHx. The roles of RA in shifting gut microbiota and BA profiles as well as hepatocyte metabolism and proliferation were studied.ResultsRA-primed mice exhibited accelerated hepatocyte proliferation revealed by higher numbers of Ki67-positive cells compared to untreated mice. Firmicutes and Bacteroidetes phyla dominated the gut microbial community (>85%) in both control and RA-primed mice after PHx. RA reduced the ratio of Firmicutes to Bacteroidetes, which was associated with a lean phenotype. Consistently, RA-primed mice lacked transient lipid accumulation normally found in regenerating livers. In addition, RA altered BA homeostasis and shifted BA profiles by increasing the ratio of hydrophilic to hydrophobic BAs in regenerating livers. Accordingly, metabolic regulators fibroblast growth factor 21, Sirtuin1, and their downstream targets AMPK and ERK1/2 were more robustly activated in RA-primed than unprimed regenerating livers.ConclusionsPriming mice with RA resulted in a lean microbiota composition and hydrophilic BA profiles, which were associated with facilitated metabolism and enhanced cell proliferation

EFFECT OF APPROACH RUN VELOCITY ON THE OPTIMAL PERFORMANCE OF THE TRIPLE JUMP

The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of approach run velocity on the optimal phase ratio and actual distance of the triple jump. Three-dimensional kinematic data of 13 elite male triple jumpers were obtained. Computer simulations were performed using a biomechanical model of the triple jump to optimize the phase ratio for the longest actual distance with different approach run velocity vectors. As horizontal velocity increased, the actual distance and jump percentage increased while the hop percentage decreased. As the vertical landing velocity increased, the actual distance, hop percentage, and jump percentage decreased. As the velocity conversion coefficient increased, the effect of vertical landing velocity of approach run on the optimal performance increased

COMPARISON OF TRUNK AND ARM MOVEMENT SEQUENCES OF JAVELIN THROWERS WITH SHORT AND LONG OFFICIAL DISTANCES

The purpose of this study was to determine the effects of the sequences of initiations of trunk and upper extremity angular motions on the performance of javelin throwing. The sequences the initiations trunk and arm angular motions and maximum angular velocities were determined for 32 male and 30 female elite javelin throwers, and compared between groups with short and long official distances. Throwers with short and long official distances employed same sequences of trunk and arm angular motions. Male and female throwers employed different sequences of the trunk and arm angular motions. The sequence of the initiations of trunk and arm angular motions was different from that of the maximum trunk and arm angular velocities