LabelFusion: A Pipeline for Generating Ground Truth Labels for Real RGBD Data of Cluttered Scenes

Deep neural network (DNN) architectures have been shown to outperform traditional pipelines for object segmentation and pose estimation using RGBD data, but the performance of these DNN pipelines is directly tied to how representative the training data is of the true data. Hence a key requirement for employing these methods in practice is to have a large set of labeled data for your specific robotic manipulation task, a requirement that is not generally satisfied by existing datasets. In this paper we develop a pipeline to rapidly generate high quality RGBD data with pixelwise labels and object poses. We use an RGBD camera to collect video of a scene from multiple viewpoints and leverage existing reconstruction techniques to produce a 3D dense reconstruction. We label the 3D reconstruction using a human assisted ICP-fitting of object meshes. By reprojecting the results of labeling the 3D scene we can produce labels for each RGBD image of the scene. This pipeline enabled us to collect over 1,000,000 labeled object instances in just a few days. We use this dataset to answer questions related to how much training data is required, and of what quality the data must be, to achieve high performance from a DNN architecture

Galaxy Evolution in the Cluster Abell 85: New Insights from the Dwarf Population

We present the first results of a new spectroscopic survey of the cluster Abell 85 targeting 1466 candidate cluster members within the central $\sim$1 deg$^2$ of the cluster and having magnitudes $m_r < 20.5$ using VIMOS/VLT and HYDRA/WIYN. A total of 520 galaxies are confirmed as either relaxed cluster members or part of an infalling population. A significant fraction are low mass; the median stellar mass of the sample is $10^{9.6} M_{\odot}$, and 25% have stellar masses below $10^9 M_{\odot}$ (i.e. 133 dwarf galaxies). We also identify seven active galactic nuclei (AGN), four of which reside in dwarf host galaxies. We probe the evolution of star formation rates, based on H$\alpha$ emission and continuum modeling, as a function of both mass and environment. We find that more star forming galaxies are observed at larger clustercentric distances, while infalling galaxies show evidence for recently enhanced star forming activity. Main sequence galaxies, defined by their continuum star formation rates, show different evolutionary behavior based on their mass. At the low mass end, the galaxies have had their star formation recently quenched, while more massive galaxies show no significant change. The timescales probed here favor fast quenching mechanisms, such as ram-pressure stripping. Galaxies within the green valley, defined similarly, do not show evidence of quenching. Instead, the low mass galaxies maintain their levels of star forming activity, while the more massive galaxies have experienced a recent burst.Comment: 15 pages, 10 figures, accepted for publication in MNRA

Preferences of fifth grade children for certain social studies activities

Thesis (Ed.M.)--Boston Universit

A survey of the facilities of twenty-seven philanthropic day nurseries and nursery schools in Boston

Thesis (M.A.)--Boston University, 1948. This item was digitized by the Internet Archive

A Structural Model of Relationships Between Employee Characteristics, Supervisory Mentoring Behaviors and Job Satisfaction

Organizational researchers have consistently found that developmental mentoring has a positive effect on employees professional and career success. Some of the benefits that have been cited include increased job satisfaction, increased organizational commitment, and increased self-esteem among mentored employees. In addition to these short-term benefits, developmental mentoring has also been found to positively impact long-term career outcomes in the form of increased compensation and career mobility for mentored employees as compared to non-mentored employees. Traditionally, mentors have been described as influential senior members of an organization who provide career support and developmental opportunities to less experienced employees, who are referred to as protégés. In recent years, researchers have suggested that immediate supervisors may serve as mentors to their subordinates. In this capacity, a supervisor goes beyond the formal boss-subordinate relationship, serving as a role model to the subordinate and providing the subordinate with coaching, support, and career-related counseling. The purpose of the present study was to extend our understanding of developmental mentoring within supervisory relationships by testing a structural model of relationships between employee characteristics, supervisory mentoring behaviors, and facets of employee job satisfaction. The model was tested using data from 327 employees of a large Southeastern city government who provided information about their personal characteristics, job satisfaction, and supervisory mentoring experiences. The results indicated that employees\u27 core self-evaluations impact the extent to which supervisory mentoring is received and the extent to which employees are satisfied with the supervisor, the advancement opportunities, and the opportunities for growth and development on the job. Similar findings were obtained for racial and gender similarity with the supervisor. However, the relationships between demographic similarity and supervisory mentoring were mediated by interpersonal comfort with the supervisor. Limitations of the findings and suggestions for future research are discussed

Development of a novel protecting group for natural product synthesis

The use of 2,2- bis (4-nitrophenyl) ethanol (BnpeOH) has led to the development of a novel urethane-type protecting group, 2, 2- bis (4-nitrophenyl) ethoxycarbonyl (Bnpeoc). Studies have shown that this group is stable towards acids and tertiary amines whilst rapid and efficient cleavage can be effected by 1,5- diazabicyclo- [4.3.0] non-5 -ene (DBN) or 1,8-diazabicyclo[5.4.0]undec7-ene (DBU) with or without an equivalent of acetic acid. Nineteen amino acids have been protected using either the chloroformate (Bnpeoc -Cl) or the N- succinimidyl carbonate (Bnpeoc ONSu) of this group. These novel protected amino acids have been used to synthesise small peptides both in solution and solid phase. A highly efficient method for anchoring these protected amino acids to a 2- alkoxybenzylalcohol resin that avoids racemisation or dimer formation has also been developed