Perception Driven Texture Generation

This paper investigates a novel task of generating texture images from perceptual descriptions. Previous work on texture generation focused on either synthesis from examples or generation from procedural models. Generating textures from perceptual attributes have not been well studied yet. Meanwhile, perceptual attributes, such as directionality, regularity and roughness are important factors for human observers to describe a texture. In this paper, we propose a joint deep network model that combines adversarial training and perceptual feature regression for texture generation, while only random noise and user-defined perceptual attributes are required as input. In this model, a preliminary trained convolutional neural network is essentially integrated with the adversarial framework, which can drive the generated textures to possess given perceptual attributes. An important aspect of the proposed model is that, if we change one of the input perceptual features, the corresponding appearance of the generated textures will also be changed. We design several experiments to validate the effectiveness of the proposed method. The results show that the proposed method can produce high quality texture images with desired perceptual properties.Comment: 7 pages, 4 figures, icme201

The Airlines’ Recent Experience Under the Railway Labor Act

Silky-feather has been selected and fixed in some breeds due to its unique appearance. This phenotype is caused by a single recessive gene (hookless, h). Here we map the silky-feather locus to chromosome 3 by linkage analysis and subsequently fine-map it to an 18.9 kb interval using the identical by descent (IBD) method. Further analysis reveals that a C to G transversion located upstream of the prenyl (decaprenyl) diphosphate synthase, subunit 2 (PDSS2) gene is causing silky-feather. All silky-feather birds are homozygous for the G allele. The silky-feather mutation significantly decreases the expression of PDSS2 during feather development in vivo. Consistent with the regulatory effect, the C to G transversion is shown to remarkably reduce PDSS2 promoter activity in vitro. We report a new example of feather structure variation associated with a spontaneous mutation and provide new insight into the PDSS2 function

The Crest Phenotype in Chicken Is Associated with Ectopic Expression of HOXC8 in Cranial Skin

The Crest phenotype is characterised by a tuft of elongated feathers atop the head. A similar phenotype is also seen in several wild bird species. Crest shows an autosomal incompletely dominant mode of inheritance and is associated with cerebral hernia. Here we show, using linkage analysis and genome-wide association, that Crest is located on the E22C19W28 linkage group and that it shows complete association to the HOXC-cluster on this chromosome. Expression analysis of tissues from Crested and non-crested chickens, representing 26 different breeds, revealed that HOXC8, but not HOXC12 or HOXC13, showed ectopic expression in cranial skin during embryonic development. We propose that Crest is caused by a cis-acting regulatory mutation underlying the ectopic expression of HOXC8. However, the identification of the causative mutation(s) has to await until a method becomes available for assembling this chromosomal region. Crest is unfortunately located in a genomic region that has so far defied all attempts to establish a contiguous sequence

Carbene-catalyzed reaction of indolyl methylenemalononitriles and enals for access to complex tetrahydrocarbazoles

A carbene-catalyzed enantioselective cascade reaction of substituted methylenemalononitriles and α-bromoenals is disclosed. Key steps of this cascade process include a formal [4 + 2] cycloaddition, aldol reaction, and intramolecular lactonization. Our reaction offers streamlined and highly stereoselective access to complex tetrahydrocarbazole derivatives, with simultaneous formation of four chemical bonds and four chiral centers.Ministry of Education (MOE)National Research Foundation (NRF)Accepted versionWe thank Dr. Yongxin Li (NTU) for assistance with X-ray structure analysis. We acknowledge financial support by the Singapore National Research Foundation (NRF-NRFI2016- 06), the Ministry of Education of Singapore (RG 1/18; RG 5/ 19; MOE2018-T3-1-003), an A*STAR Individual Research Grant (A1783c0008; A1783c0010), GSK-EDB Trust Fund, a Nanyang Research Award Grant, and Nanyang Technological University; the Guizhou Province First-Class Disciplines Project (Yiliu Xueke Jianshe Xiangmu)-GNYL(2017)008, Guizhou University of Traditional Chinese Medicine (China), QMYY [2017]101 (China); the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Nos. 21772029, 21901233), the National Key Technologies R&D Program (No. 2014BAD23B01), the “Thousand Talent Plan”, the 10 Talent Plan (Shicengci) of Guizhou Province [2016]5649, and Guizhou University, Department of Science and Technology of Guizhou Province [2019]1020, Undergraduate Innovation and Pioneer Training Program, Guizhou University of Traditional Chinese Medicine 2018(31), Program of Introduc- ing Talents of Discipline to Universities of China (111 Program, D20023)

Multi-Objective Optimization of Envelope Design of Rural Tourism Buildings in Southeastern Coastal Areas of China Based on NSGA-II Algorithm and Entropy-Based TOPSIS Method

The rapid development of rural tourism and higher requirements for the indoor environments of rural tourism buildings (RTBs) have led to rapid growth in the energy consumption of RTBs. The aim of this work was to apply a new method to optimize the indoor thermal environments and energy performances of RTBs and promote scientific passive design strategies for RTBs in southeastern coastal areas of China. First, a field survey was carried out to understand the statuses of buildings and the energy consumption of RTBs. Through a building typology analysis, two types of RTBs (renovated from existing buildings and newly built) were chosen as the dominant types in the villages. Second, a comprehensive parametric study was conducted to examine the impact of energy consumption and the indoor thermal environment using a global sensitivity analysis. The passive design parameters with large sensitivity impacts were selected using the Sobol sampling method and by calculating the comprehensive contribution rates of the parameters. Then, the NSGA-II algorithm was used to simultaneously minimize the two objectives and generate the Pareto front solution sets of the two RTB types. Finally, by applying an entropy-based TOPSIS decision-making method, the optimal schemes (the best energy-saving solution, the best comfort solution, and the best compromise solution) for the two RTB types were further obtained from the feasible Pareto-optimal solutions, and the suggested values for the design parameters are presented. This study proposes a new multi-objective optimization approach combining the NSGA-II algorithm and an entropy-based TOPSIS decision-making method, and the findings are valuable, as they can help designers to improve the designs of rural tourism buildings

An Analytical Model for Synthesis Distortion Estimation in 3D Video

We propose an analytical model to estimate the synthesized view quality in 3D video. The model relates errors in the depth images to the synthesis quality, taking into account texture image characteristics, texture image quality, and the rendering process. Especially, we decompose the synthesis distortion into texture-error induced distortion and depth-error induced distortion. We analyze the depth-error induced distortion using an approach combining frequency and spatial domain techniques. Experiment results with video sequences and coding/rendering tools used in MPEG 3DV activities show that our analytical model can accurately estimate the synthesis noise power. Thus, the model can be used to estimate the rendering quality for different system designs

Response of CH4 and N2O emissions and wheat yields to tillage method changes in the North China plain.

The objective of this study was to quantify soil methane (CH(4)) and nitrous oxide (N(2)O) emissions when converting from minimum and no-tillage systems to subsoiling (tilled soil to a depth of 40 cm to 45 cm) in the North China Plain. The relationships between CH(4) and N(2)O flux and soil temperature, moisture, NH(4) (+)-N, organic carbon (SOC) and pH were investigated over 18 months using a split-plot design. The soil absorption of CH(4) appeared to increase after conversion from no-tillage (NT) to subsoiling (NTS), from harrow tillage (HT) to subsoiling (HTS) and from rotary tillage (RT) to subsoiling (RTS). N(2)O emissions also increased after conversion. Furthermore, after conversion to subsoiling, the combined global warming potential (GWP) of CH(4) and N(2)O increased by approximately 0.05 kg CO(2) ha(-1) for HTS, 0.02 kg CO(2) ha(-1) for RTS and 0.23 kg CO(2) ha(-1) for NTS. Soil temperature, moisture, SOC, NH(4) (+)-N and pH also changed after conversion to subsoiling. These changes were correlated with CH(4) uptake and N(2)O emissions. However, there was no significant correlation between N(2)O emissions and soil temperature in this study. The grain yields of wheat improved after conversion to subsoiling. Under HTS, RTS and NTS, the average grain yield was elevated by approximately 42.5%, 27.8% and 60.3% respectively. Our findings indicate that RTS and HTS would be ideal rotation tillage systems to balance GWP decreases and grain yield improvements in the North China Plain region

Study on the Leaching Kinetics of Weathered Crust Elution-Deposited Rare Earth Ores by Hydroxypropyl Methyl Cellulose

In the process of the in situ leaching of weathered crust elution-deposited rare earth ores (WCE-DREOs), there are many problems in the conventional leaching agent, such as a slow leaching rate, low leaching yield and long leaching period. In order to solve the above problems, 2.0 wt% ammonium sulfate was mixed with hydroxypropyl methyl cellulose (HPMC). The effects of the HPMC concentration, temperature, pH and flow rate on the leaching kinetics of rare earth (RE) and aluminum (Al) were investigated. The results showed that when the concentration of HPMC was 0.05 wt%, the leaching equilibrium time of RE and Al was about 60% shorter than that of single ammonium sulfate. With an increase in the leaching temperature, the leaching equilibrium time of RE and Al decreased, and the apparent activation energy of RE and Al was 23.13 kJ/mol and 17.31 kJ/mol, respectively. The leaching process was in line with the internal diffusion kinetic control model. When the pH of the leaching agent was 4.02~8.01, the leaching yield of RE and Al was basically the same, but the leaching yield of Al was greatly increased at pH 2.0 due to a large amount of adsorbed hydroxy-Al in the RE ore eluded. The leaching yield reached the maximum when the flow rate was 0.7 mL/min. The leaching time and the leaching cost of RE can be saved by the composite leaching agent. The results provide theoretical guidance for the development and industrial application of the new composite leaching agent