Techniques for image classification, object detection and object segmentation

In this paper we document the techniques which we used to participate in the PASCAL NoE VOC Challenge 2007 image analysis performance evaluation campaign. We took part in three of the image analysis competitions: image classification, object detection and object segmentation. In the classification task of the evaluation our method produced comparatively good performance, the 4th best of 19 submissions. In contrast, our detection results were quite modest. Our method's segmentation accuracy was the best of all submissions. Our approach for the classification task is based on fused classifications by numerous global image features, including histograms of local features. The object detection combines similar classification of automatically extracted image segments and the previously obtained scene type classifications. The object segmentations are obtained in a straightforward fashion from the detection results

Tekninen puu: puun modifiointi lopputuotteeksi

Tieteen tori: Puun laat

Evaluation of pointer click relevance feedback in PicSOM : deliverable D1.2 of FP7 project nº 216529 PinView

This report presents the results of a series of experiments where knowledge of the most relevant part of images is given as additional information to a content-based image retrieval system. The most relevant parts have been identified by search-task-dependent pointer clicks on the images. As such they provide a rudimentary form of explicit enriched relevance feedback and to some extent mimic genuine implicit eye movement measurements which are essential ingredients of the PinView project

Teachers' views on students' social and emotional skills

The importance of social and emotional skills in schools contexts can be seen both in in research and in the National core curriculum for basic education in Finland. Considering the importance of social and emotional skills for students’ social, personal and academic development as well as the recent emphasis on these skills in Finnish education, the purpose of this study is to explore teachers’ experiences, views and practices in relation to students’ social and emotional learning. Social and emotional skills have a great impact on child’s development, success and future. How teachers view social and emotional skills have an effect on how they address them in their classrooms. Teachers’ ability to implement social and emotional skills education in classroom culture daily affect students’ social and emotional competence. Considering the importance of social and emotional skills in students’ learning and development and the importance of teachers’ views in shaping their practices of addressing social and emotional skills, the following research questions were asked in this study: 1. What are teachers’ views about students’ social and emotional skills? 2. How do teachers address social and emotional skills for their students? A survey design was employed as the research method in this study because it enables gathering the ideas of a large group of people about a topic or issue. The study showed that social and emotional skills are considered to be important by participating teachers. Social and emotional skills were visible in classrooms and were addressed quite often in everyday life as well as with the help of different materials such as KiVa school -materials, Lions Quest and FRIENDS -materials for social and emotional education

Molecular Mechanisms of Sexual Dimorphism in Threespine Stickleback

Sexual dimorphism is commonly understood as differences in external features, such as morphological features or coloration. However, it can more broadly encompass behavior and physiology and at the core of these differences is the genetic mechanism – mRNA and protein expression. How, and which, molecular mechanisms influence sexually dimorphic features is not well understood thus far. DNA, RNA and proteins are the template required to create the phenotype of an individual, and they are connected to each other via processes of transcription and translation. As the genome of males and females are almost identical with the exception of the few genes on the sex chromosome or the sex-determining alleles (in the case of organisms without sex chromosomes), it is likely that many of the downstream processes resulting in sexual dimorphism are produced by changes in gene regulation and result from a regulatory cascade and not from a vastly different gene composition. Thus, in this thesis a systems biology approach is used to understand sexual dimorphism at all molecular levels and how different genomic features, e.g. sex chromosome evolution, can affect the interplay of these molecules. The threespine stickleback, Gasterosteus aculeatus, is used as the model to investigate molecular mechanisms of sexual dimorphism. It has well-characterized ecology and behavior, especially in the breeding season when sexual dimorphism is high. Moreover, threespine stickleback has a recently evolved Y chromosome in the early stages of sex chromosome evolution, characterized by a lack of recombination leading to degeneration (i.e. gene loss). The aim of my thesis is to investigate how the genotype links to the molecular phenotype and relates to differences in molecular expression between males and females. Based on previous research on sex differences in mRNA expression, I investigated sex-biased protein expression in adult fish outside the breeding season to see if differences persisted after translation. As sex-biased expression also prevailed in the proteome and previous transcription expression seemed to be related to the sex chromosomes, I investigated the genome level with a particular focus on the sex-chromosomes. I characterized the status of Y chromosome degeneration in the threespine stickleback and its effects on gene function. Furthermore, since the degeneration process leaves genes in a single copy in males, I examined whether the resulting dosage difference of messenger RNA for hemizygous genes is compensated as it is in other organisms. In addition, threespine sticklebacks have wellcharacterized behavioral differences related to the male’s social status during the breeding season. To understand the connection between the genotype and behavior, I examined gene expression patterns related to breeding behavior using dominant and subordinate males as well as femaleSiirretty Doriast

Regulatory Architecture of Gene Expression Variation in the Threespine Stickleback Gasterosteus aculeatus

Much adaptive evolutionary change is underlain by mutational variation in regions of the genome that regulate gene expression rather than in the coding regions of the genes themselves. An understanding of the role of gene expression variation in facilitating local adaptation will be aided by an understanding of underlying regulatory networks. Here, we characterize the genetic architecture of gene expression variation in the threespine stickleback (Gasterosteus aculeatus), an important model in the study of adaptive evolution. We collected transcriptomic and genomic data from 60 half-sib families using an expression microarray and genotyping-by-sequencing, and located expression quantitative trait loci (eQTL) underlying the variation in gene expression in liver tissue using an interval mapping approach. We identified eQTL for several thousand expression traits. Expression was influenced by polymorphism in both cis- and trans-regulatory regions. Transe-QTL clustered into hotspots. We did not identify master transcriptional regulators in hotspot locations: rather, the presence of hotspots may be driven by complex interactions between multiple transcription factors. One observed hotspot colocated with a QTL recently found to underlie salinity tolerance in the threespine stickleback. However, most other observed hotspots did not colocate with regions of the genome known to be involved in adaptive divergence between marine and freshwater habitats.Peer reviewe

Johan Kraftman ja varhaisen kansalaisyhteiskunnan rakentaminen esiteollisena aikana

Tässä artikkelissa tutkitaan Johan Kraftmanin toimia esimerkkitapauksena, jonka kautta tarkastellaan varhaisen kansalaisen toimintaa sekä pyrkimyksiä varhaisen kansalaisyhteiskunnan rakentamiseksi. Tämä kietoutuu lähteisesti samanaikaiseen poliittisen ja kirjallisen julkisuuden sekä yleisen keskustelun ja mielipiteiden syntyyn. Artikkelissa tarkastellaan, miten Kraftmanin työ, yhteiskunnallinen toiminta sekä erilaiset kirjalliset tuotokset rakensivat poliittista ja kirjallista julkisuutta sekä loivat uudenlaista keskustelua valtakunnallisesti ja paikallistasolla. Artikkelissa ei käydä läpi Kraftmanin koko kirjallista tuotantoa, pitkää elämänkaarta moninaisine tehtävineen ja verkostoja tai vaikutuspiirejä. Sen sijaan tarkastellaan Kraftmanin toimia kolmen keskeisen sektorin kautta, jotka koskevat koulutuksen ja maatalouden kehittämistä sekä aloitteita paikallispolitiikan saralla. Nämä esimerkit avaavat uudenlaisen näkökulman poliittisen kulttuurin kehitykseen ja julkisuuden muodostumiseen ja ennen kaikkea osoittavat pyrkimyksiä varhaisen kansalaisyhteiskunnan rakentamiseksi. Artikkelin pohjaksi valittu lähdeaineisto koostuu Kraftmanin julkisluonteisista kirjeistä ja sekä hänen omista että aikalaisten julkaisuista, jotka kuvaavat Kraftmanin toimia poliittisen julkisuuden ja yhteiskunnan rakentamisen näkökulmista.&nbsp

Privacy by Design in Agile Software Development

With privacy concerns on the rise, the European Commission passed the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) which forces all software manufacturers to employ the privacy by design principles starting from the design phase of development. The privacy by design approach has been pushed into regulation as the ultimate solution by some, but very little information is given on applying the approach in practice. Very little information is also available on enforcement of the regulatory side of privacy by design which makes evaluation of compliance difficult. This thesis explores the state of privacy by design implementation and attempts to formulate a model for adhering to the privacy by design principles in an iterative agile software development methodology. This model is fully integrated into the Scrum software development model and provides the developers with an improved view into the compliance state of their product during development through employment of visual documentation practices. Additional focus is given to other regulatory demands of the GDPR. Compatibility with other privacy oriented development frameworks is also considered. Furthermore, this thesis explores the criticism and benefits on privacy by design from both an implementation and regulatory point of view in Europe and in other jurisdictions. These criticisms and benefits are evaluated against the agile integrated model. The state of privacy by design in the global privacy community is a positive development, but some global privacy threats are also discussed

Silicone misting in pressure sensitive label production

Silicone misting occurs when silicone release coatings are applied on multi-roll coaters on liner substrates at a high speed and pressure sensitive label materials are produced. Mist droplets are formed as the liquid silicone film splits between two rolls and produces fine mist. Misting can be reduced to some degree by using anti-misting additives when formulating silicones but especially at higher speeds it is nearly impossible to prevent misting totally. The effects of silicone misting are related to production, such as the more often occurring cleaning requirements of the equipment and to human health which is the main concern. The objective of this thesis was to study misting of different silicone formulations by monitoring aerosol concentrations during the production of label materials and conducting laboratory measurements for the silicones, siliconized liners and laminate materials consisting of a face, an adhesive, a silicone release coating and a liner. The aim was to find correlations between laboratory measurements and misting observed in production and to find out if the measurements done in the laboratory could be used in predicting the extent of misting phenomenon. The effect of coating speed and properties of the silicones on misting were also studied. The measurements included aerosol monitoring, viscosity and differential scanning calorimetry measurements of the silicones, contact angle and surface energy studies as well as topographic imaging of the siliconized surfaces, rub-off and release profile measurements. Differences between misting of the silicones and the properties of the silicones were observed. The differential scanning calorimetry measurements were able to be combined with the aerosol monitoring results by comparing the curing behaviour of the silicones. The effect of increasing line speed was verified to increase mist formation. Based on the measurements it seemed that the addition of release modifier could increase misting. The higher viscosity of the silicone did not correlate with higher aerosol concentrations observed at the coating station. All studied silicones produced mist, but the amounts were much lower than a common industry threshold level considers acceptable. The other measurements were not easily combined with the misting phenomenon depending on the test method or the laminate materials consisting of different faces, adhesives and liners making it difficult to make conclusions regarding the silicones only. For being able to examine the misting phenomenon and compare different silicone formulations further, the line speeds and other conditions should remain constant. When studying laminate materials, the silicone should be the only variable while the other components would remain the same. The trend of how the amount of mist increases with increasing line speed and the effect of the use of modifier could be further studied as well as the effect of viscosity of the silicone on misting could be verified by making sure that the bath lives of the silicones would be the same as well as the other previously mentioned conditions