Diversified Texture Synthesis with Feed-forward Networks

Recent progresses on deep discriminative and generative modeling have shown promising results on texture synthesis. However, existing feed-forward based methods trade off generality for efficiency, which suffer from many issues, such as shortage of generality (i.e., build one network per texture), lack of diversity (i.e., always produce visually identical output) and suboptimality (i.e., generate less satisfying visual effects). In this work, we focus on solving these issues for improved texture synthesis. We propose a deep generative feed-forward network which enables efficient synthesis of multiple textures within one single network and meaningful interpolation between them. Meanwhile, a suite of important techniques are introduced to achieve better convergence and diversity. With extensive experiments, we demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed model and techniques for synthesizing a large number of textures and show its applications with the stylization.Comment: accepted by CVPR201

A Novel Two-Component Response Regulator Links rpfwith Biofilm Formation and Virulence of Xanthomonasaxonopodis pv. Citri

Citrus bacterial canker caused by Xanthomonas axonopodis pv. citri is a serious disease that impacts citrus productionworldwide, and X. axonopodis pv. citri is listed as a quarantine pest in certain countries. Biofilm formation is important forthe successful development of a pathogenic relationship between various bacteria and their host(s). To understand themechanisms of biofilm formation by X. axonopodis pv. citri strain XW19, the strain was subjected to transposonmutagenesis. One mutant with a mutation in a two-component response regulator gene that was deficient in biofilmformation on a polystyrene microplate was selected for further study. The protein was designated as BfdR for biofilmformation defective regulator. BfdR from strain XW19 shares 100% amino acid sequence identity with XAC1284 of X.axonopodis pv. citri strain 306 and 30–100% identity with two-component response regulators in various pathogens andenvironmental microorganisms. The bfdR mutant strain exhibited significantly decreased biofilm formation on the leafsurfaces of Mexican lime compared with the wild type strain. The bfdR mutant was also compromised in its ability to causecanker lesions. The wild-type phenotype was restored by providing pbfdR in trans in the bfdR mutant. Our data indicatedthat BfdR did not regulate the production of virulence-related extracellular enzymes including amylase, lipase, protease, andlecithinase or the expression of hrpG, rfbC, and katE; however, BfdR controlled the expression of rpfF in XVM2 medium,which mimics cytoplasmic fluids in planta. In conclusion, biofilm formation on leaf surfaces of citrus is important for cankerdevelopment in X. axonopodis pv. citri XW19. The process is controlled by the two-component response regulator BfdR viaregulation of rpfF, which is required for the biosynthesis of a diffusible signal factor

Sorting permutations by cut-circularize-linearize-and-paste operations

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Genome rearrangements are studied on the basis of genome-wide analysis of gene orders and important in the evolution of species. In the last two decades, a variety of rearrangement operations, such as reversals, transpositions, block-interchanges, translocations, fusions and fissions, have been proposed to evaluate the differences between gene orders in two or more genomes. Usually, the computational studies of genome rearrangements are formulated as problems of sorting permutations by rearrangement operations.</p> <p>Result</p> <p>In this article, we study a sorting problem by cut-circularize-linearize-and-paste (CCLP) operations, which aims to find a minimum number of CCLP operations to sort a signed permutation representing a chromosome. The CCLP is a genome rearrangement operation that cuts a segment out of a chromosome, circularizes the segment into a temporary circle, linearizes the temporary circle as a linear segment, and possibly inverts the linearized segment and pastes it into the remaining chromosome. The CCLP operation can model many well-known rearrangements, such as reversals, transpositions and block-interchanges, and others not reported in the biological literature. In addition, it really occurs in the immune response of higher animals. To distinguish those CCLP operations from the reversal, we call them as non-reversal CCLP operations. In this study, we use permutation groups in algebra to design an <it>O</it>(<it>δn</it>) time algorithm for solving the weighted sorting problem by CCLP operations when the weight ratio between reversals and non-reversal CCLP operations is 1:2, where <it>n</it> is the number of genes in the given chromosome and <it>δ</it> is the number of needed CCLP operations.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>The algorithm we propose in this study is very simple so that it can be easily implemented with 1-dimensional arrays and useful in the studies of phylogenetic tree reconstruction and human immune response to tumors.</p

DEVELOPING SUPPLY CHAIN DYNAMIC CAPABILITY TO REALIZE THE VALUE OF INTER-ORGANIZATIONAL SYSTEMS

In face of increasingly complex supply chain, firms are taking steps to develop different kinds of inter-organizational systems (IOS) to facilitate information sharing and sustain competitive competency. These systems are expected to provide great business value, however many of them do not fulfill the expected promise as these systems are relatively more complicated and the usage is across supply chains. Built upon process theory and the view of dynamic capability, this study has defined two supply chain dynamic capabilities (SDC) -- supply chain integration capability and supply chain cooperation capability and proposed that they might significantly moderate IOS performance. A general survey is conducted in Taiwan PC industry to validate the research model. A linear regression is used to testify the hypotheses. The results show that improving SDC can create greater IOS performance. Furthermore, supply chain integration capability has stronger moderating effect of IOS performance than supply chain cooperation capability. These findings contribute to the literature by confirming the influence of SDC on IOS performance and also by showing which SDC is of primary importance to firms