Towards bounding-box free panoptic segmentation

In this work we introduce a new bounding-box free network (BBFNet) for panoptic segmentation. Panoptic segmentation is an ideal problem for a bounding-box free approach as it already requires per-pixel semantic class labels. We use this observation to exploit class boundaries from an off-the-shelf semantic segmentation network and refine them to predict instance labels. Towards this goal BBFNet predicts coarse watershed levels and use it to detect large instance candidates where boundaries are well defined. For smaller instances, whose boundaries are less reliable, BBFNet also predicts instance centers by means of Hough voting followed by mean-shift to reliably detect small objects. A novel triplet loss network helps merging fragmented instances while refining boundary pixels. Our approach is distinct from previous works in panoptic segmentation that rely on a combination of a semantic segmentation network with a computationally costly instance segmentation network based on bounding boxes, such as Mask R-CNN, to guide the prediction of instance labels using a Mixture-of-Expert (MoE) approach. We benchmark our non-MoE method on Cityscapes and Microsoft COCO datasets and show competitive performance with other MoE based approaches while outperfroming exisiting non-proposal based approaches. We achieve this while been computationally more efficient in terms of number of parameters and FLOPs. Video results are provided here https://blog.slamcore.com/reducing-the-cost-of-understanding

Electrical activity of carbon-hydrogen centers in Si

The electrical activity of Cs-H defects in Si has been investigated in a combined modeling and experimental study. High-resolution Laplace capacitance spectroscopy with the uniaxial stress technique has been used to measure the stress-energy tensor and the results are compared with theoretical modeling. At low temperatures, implanted H is trapped as a negative-U center with a donor level in the upper half of the gap. However, at higher temperatures, H migrates closer to the carbon impurity and the donor level falls, crossing the gap. At the same time, an acceptor level is introduced into the upper gap making the defect a positive-U center

Kepemimpinan Camat dalam Meningkatkan Disiplin Kerja Aparatur Sipil Negara (Studi di Kecamatan Dumoga Barat Kabupaten Bolaang Mongondow)

Penelitian ini hendak mencoba melihat motivasi disiplin kerja pegawaidari faktor kepemimpinan camat sebagai seorang manajer organisasi. Seiringdengan berjalannya era globalisasi,dan semakin ketatnya persaingan kerja disaat ini Camat Dumoga Barat sebaiknya lebih memperhatikan keterampilanpegawai,dari tingkat pendidikan mereka yang disesuaikan dengan keahlian atauketerampilan berdasarkan kebutuhan organisasi di instansi terkait,dan harusbertindak tegas terhadap pegawai yang tidak displin melaksanakanpekerjaannya dengan memberikan sanksi yang seharusnya.Dalam penelitian ini penyusun menggunakan metode penelitian deskriptifkualitatif. Metode deskriptif kualitatif sebagai prosedur penelitian yangmenghasilkan, data deskriptif berupa kata-kata tertulis atau lisan dari orangorangatau perilaku yang diamati.Tindakan tegas tersebut diambil agar hasil kerja pegawai sesuai denganstandar yang ada,namun tentunya agar hasil pekerjaan itu dapat sempurnaharuslah didukung dengan menciptakan suasana linkungan kerja yang baik, agarpegawai tidak merasa tertekan didalam melaksanakan pekerjaannya, dengandemikian ada hubungan timbal Balik antara pimpinan dan bawahan untuk salingmengisi sebagai tugas dan tanggung jawabnya

Recovering 6D Object Pose: A Review and Multi-modal Analysis

A large number of studies analyse object detection and pose estimation at visual level in 2D, discussing the effects of challenges such as occlusion, clutter, texture, etc., on the performances of the methods, which work in the context of RGB modality. Interpreting the depth data, the study in this paper presents thorough multi-modal analyses. It discusses the above-mentioned challenges for full 6D object pose estimation in RGB-D images comparing the performances of several 6D detectors in order to answer the following questions: What is the current position of the computer vision community for maintaining "automation" in robotic manipulation? What next steps should the community take for improving "autonomy" in robotics while handling objects? Our findings include: (i) reasonably accurate results are obtained on textured-objects at varying viewpoints with cluttered backgrounds. (ii) Heavy existence of occlusion and clutter severely affects the detectors, and similar-looking distractors is the biggest challenge in recovering instances' 6D. (iii) Template-based methods and random forest-based learning algorithms underlie object detection and 6D pose estimation. Recent paradigm is to learn deep discriminative feature representations and to adopt CNNs taking RGB images as input. (iv) Depending on the availability of large-scale 6D annotated depth datasets, feature representations can be learnt on these datasets, and then the learnt representations can be customized for the 6D problem

STUDIES ON EFFECT OF FORMULATION AND PROCESSING PARAMETERS ON STABILITY OF KETOROLAC TROMETHAMINE ORALLY DISSOLVING FILMS

Objective: The objective of the proposed work was to study the effect of various formulation and process parameters of solvent casting method on the physical and chemical stability of Ketorolac Tromethamine (KT) in the orally dissolving film dosage form. Methods: KT-excipient interaction study was carried out both in solid state and by processing samples through the solvent casting technique. The samples were evaluated using IR spectroscopy (IR) and X-ray diffractometry (XRD). Solvent casting method was used to prepare KT films using different film-forming polymers, and solvents. The drying temperature and pH of the dispersion were also varied to study the effect of these parameters on the stability of KT. All the formulations were analysed chemically initially and after one month of storage at 40 °C/75% RH. Results: During KT-excipient interaction study in solid state KT was found to be stable. No significant changes were observed in its impurity profile. Interaction between different polymers and KT was observed after the solvent casting process as revealed by IR and XRD analysis. The interaction was further confirmed in the film formulations upon chemical analysis. The polymers showing interaction with KT in XRD and IR were making it unstable chemically and were responsible for its chemical degradation as revealed by chemical analysis. It was also revealed that KT is most stable when processed using water as the solvent. KT was found to be stable when processed at a higher temperature and at acidic pH during film formation. It was found that chemical stability is more when Polyethylene oxide (PEO) and water under acidic pH are used and films are dried at a higher temperature. Conclusion: Both formulation parameters and processing conditions of the solvent casting technique affects the stability of drugs and hence should be studied as part of pre-formulation studies while developing orally dissolving films of drugs

Conservation and Preservation of Library Materials

The present paper assesses the need and importance of conservation and preservation of library material. It discusses the various methods of conservation and preservation of library material adopted by librarians through the ages. It illustrates in detail the different types of library materials and their deteriorating agents and preventive measures advocated.  The researchers are of the opinion that the librarians are paying a very negligible attention for conservation and preservation. In addition the library staff is not well equipped and fully trained to carry out preservation and conservation activities in the library. Digitization is used as preservation technique in modern era. The brief information about various types of digitization tools required for the process of digitization are also described with their unique properties and technical details

Cell Death of Melanophores in Zebrafish trpm7 Mutant Embryos Depends on Melanin Synthesis

Transient receptor potential melastatin 7 (TRPM7) is a broadly expressed, non-selective cation channel. Studies in cultured cells implicate TRPM7 in regulation of cell growth, spreading, and survival. However, zebrafish trpm7 homozygous mutants display death of melanophores and temporary paralysis, but no gross morphological defects during embryonic stages. This phenotype implies that melanophores are unusually sensitive to decreases in Trpm7 levels, a hypothesis we investigate here. We find that pharmacological inhibition of caspases does not rescue melanophore viability in trpm7 mutants, implying that melanophores die by a mechanism other than apoptosis. Consistent with this possibility, ultrastructural analysis of dying melanophores in trpm7 mutants reveals abnormal melanosomes and evidence of a ruptured plasma membrane, indicating that cell death occurs by necrosis. Interestingly, inhibition of melanin synthesis largely prevents melanophore cell death in trpm7 mutants. These results suggest that melanophores require Trpm7 in order to detoxify intermediates of melanin synthesis. We find that unlike TRPM1, TRPM7 is expressed in human melanoma cell lines, indicating that these cells may also be sensitized to reduction of TRPM7 levels