Overlapped tobacco shred image segmentation and area computation using an improved Mask RCNN network and COT algorithm

IntroductionThe classification of the four tobacco shred varieties, tobacco silk, cut stem, expanded tobacco silk, and reconstituted tobacco shred, and the subsequent determination of tobacco shred components, are the primary tasks involved in calculating the tobacco shred blending ratio. The identification accuracy and subsequent component area calculation error directly affect the composition determination and quality of the tobacco shred. However, tiny tobacco shreds have complex physical and morphological characteristics; in particular, there is substantial similarity between the expanded tobacco silk and tobacco silk varieties, and this complicates their classification. There must be a certain amount of overlap and stacking in the distribution of tobacco shreds on the actual tobacco quality inspection line. There are 24 types of overlap alone, not to mention the stacking phenomenon. Self-winding does not make it easier to distinguish such varieties from the overlapped types, posing significant difficulties for machine vision-based tobacco shred classification and component area calculation tasks.MethodsThis study focuses on two significant challenges associated with identifying various types of overlapping tobacco shreds and acquiring overlapping regions to calculate overlapping areas. It develops a new segmentation model for tobacco shred images based on an improved Mask region-based convolutional neural network (RCNN). Mask RCNN is used as the segmentation network’s mainframe. Convolutional network and feature pyramid network (FPN) in the backbone are replaced with Densenet121 and U-FPN, respectively. The size and aspect ratios of anchors parameters in region proposal network (RPN) are optimized. An algorithm for the area calculation of the overlapped tobacco shred region (COT) is also proposed, which is applied to overlapped tobacco shred mask images to obtain overlapped regions and calculate the overlapped area.ResultsThe experimental results showed that the final segmentation accuracy and recall rates are 89.1% and 73.2%, respectively. The average area detection rate of 24 overlapped tobacco shred samples increases from 81.2% to 90%, achieving high segmentation accuracy and overlapped area calculation accuracy.DiscussionThis study provides a new implementation method for the type identification and component area calculation of overlapped tobacco shreds and a new approach for other similar overlapped image segmentation tasks

Absolute frequency measurements with a robust, transportable ^{40}Ca^{+} optical clock

We constructed a transportable 40Ca+ optical clock (with an estimated minimum systematic shift uncertainty of 1.3*10^(-17) and a stability of 5*10^(-15)/sqrt{tau} ) that can operate outside the laboratory. We transported it from the Innovation Academy for Precision Measurement Science and Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wuhan to the National Institute of Metrology, Beijing. The absolute frequency of the 729 nm clock transition was measured for up to 35 days by tracing its frequency to the second of International System of Units. Some improvements were implemented in the measurement process, such as the increased effective up-time of 91.3 % of the 40Ca+ optical clock over a 35-day-period, the reduced statistical uncertainty of the comparison between the optical clock and hydrogen maser, and the use of longer measurement times to reduce the uncertainty of the frequency traceability link. The absolute frequency measurement of the 40Ca+ optical clock yielded a value of 411042129776400.26 (13) Hz with an uncertainty of 3.2*10^(-16), which is reduced by a factor of 1.7 compared with our previous results. As a result of the increase in the operating rate of the optical clock, the accuracy of 35 days of absolute frequency measurement can be comparable to the best results of different institutions in the world based on different optical frequency measurements.Comment: 15 pages, 5 figure

Subtype-Based Analysis of Cell-in-Cell Structures in Esophageal Squamous Cell Carcinoma

Cell-in-cell (CIC) structures are defined as the special structures with one or more cells enclosed inside another one. Increasing data indicated that CIC structures were functional surrogates of complicated cell behaviors and prognosis predictor in heterogeneous cancers. However, the CIC structure profiling and its prognostic value have not been reported in human esophageal squamous cell Carcinoma (ESCC). We conducted the analysis of subtyped CIC-based profiling in ESCC using “epithelium-macrophage-leukocyte” (EML) multiplex staining and examined the prognostic value of CIC structure profiling through Kaplan-Meier plotting and Cox regression model. Totally, five CIC structure subtypes were identified in ESCC tissue and the majority of them was homotypic CIC (hoCIC) with tumor cells inside tumor cells (TiT). By univariate and multivariate analyses, TiT was shown to be an independent prognostic factor for resectable ESCC, and patients with higher density of TiT tended to have longer post-operational survival time. Furthermore, in subpopulation analysis stratified by TNM stage, high TiT density was associated with longer overall survival (OS) in patients of TNM stages III and IV as compared with patients with low TiT density (mean OS: 51 vs 15 months, P = 0.04) and T3 stage (mean OS: 57 vs 17 months, P=0.024). Together, we reported the first CIC structure profiling in ESCC and explored the prognostic value of subtyped CIC structures, which supported the notion that functional pathology with CIC structure profiling is an emerging prognostic factor for human cancers, such as ESCC

Cassava genome from a wild ancestor to cultivated varieties

Cassava is a major tropical food crop in the Euphorbiaceae family that has high carbohydrate production potential and adaptability to diverse environments. Here we present the draft genome sequences of a wild ancestor and a domesticated variety of cassava and comparative analyses with a partial inbred line. We identify 1,584 and 1,678 gene models specific to the wild and domesticated varieties, respectively, and discover high heterozygosity and millions of single-nucleotide variations. Our analyses reveal that genes involved in photosynthesis, starch accumulation and abiotic stresses have been positively selected, whereas those involved in cell wall biosynthesis and secondary metabolism, including cyanogenic glucoside formation, have been negatively selected in the cultivated varieties, reflecting the result of natural selection and domestication. Differences in microRNA genes and retrotransposon regulation could partly explain an increased carbon flux towards starch accumulation and reduced cyanogenic glucoside accumulation in domesticated cassava. These results may contribute to genetic improvement of cassava through better understanding of its biology

Bacterial Community Profiling of Milk Samples as a Means to Understand Culture-Negative Bovine Clinical Mastitis

Inflammation and infection of bovine mammary glands, commonly known as mastitis, imposes significant losses each year in the dairy industry worldwide. While several different bacterial species have been identified as causative agents of mastitis, many clinical mastitis cases remain culture negative, even after enrichment for bacterial growth. To understand the basis for this increasingly common phenomenon, the composition of bacterial communities from milk samples was analyzed using culture independent pyrosequencing of amplicons of 16S ribosomal RNA genes (16S rDNA). Comparisons were made of the microbial community composition of culture negative milk samples from mastitic quarters with that of non-mastitic quarters from the same animals. Genomic DNA from culture-negative clinical and healthy quarter sample pairs was isolated, and amplicon libraries were prepared using indexed primers specific to the V1–V2 region of bacterial 16S rRNA genes and sequenced using the Roche 454 GS FLX with titanium chemistry. Evaluation of the taxonomic composition of these samples revealed significant differences in the microbiota in milk from mastitic and healthy quarters. Statistical analysis identified seven bacterial genera that may be mainly responsible for the observed microbial community differences between mastitic and healthy quarters. Collectively, these results provide evidence that cases of culture negative mastitis can be associated with bacterial species that may be present below culture detection thresholds used here. The application of culture-independent bacterial community profiling represents a powerful approach to understand long-standing questions in animal health and disease

Design and implementation of an application for handling and analysis of traffic captures

RESUMEN: A medida que avanza el tiempo, Internet cada vez está tomando más importancia, no solo en lo que respecta a la tecnología de la comunicación, sino también en otros ámbitos como la educación, medicina, etc. En los que desempeña un papel relevante. Por esta razón, el objetivo de este proyecto es diseñar una aplicación software para poder gestionar y analizar el tráfico de la red. Para su consecución se va a proceder a leer los archivos de capturas con formato PCAP o PCAPNG que almacenan las tramas y extraer los datos de la captura mostrándolos en una interfaz gráfica que ayuda a comprender la información obtenida. A diferencia de Wireshark, se ha intentado que este software sea más user-friendly. Toda la información contenida en cada trama capturada se muestra en una ventana en la que podemos visualizar fácilmente el contenido de las capturas. Con ello se puede conocer si la información pertenece a una LAN o a tráfico externo, qué protocolos se están utilizando, cuántos datos se están pasando, en cuánto tiempo, etc. Para crear esta aplicación se utilizan diferentes tipos de herramientas: algunas para crear la UI, otras para leer la captura o escribir datos a otros archivos, como es el caso de la base de datos. Afortunadamente, Python dispone de unas librerías a través de la cuales se puede hacer uso de dichas herramientas sin necesidad de tener que recurrir a otras aplicaciones.ABSTRACT: As time goes by, the Internet is becoming more and more important, not only in terms of communication technology, but also in other fields such as education, medical, etc. In which it plays a relevant role. For this reason, the objective of this project is to design a software application to manage and analyze network traffic. To achieve this, we will proceed to read the PCAP or PCAPNG files, which store the network traffic, and extract the capture data by displaying them in a graphical interface that helps to understand the information circulating in the network. As opposed to Wireshark, this software is more user-friendly. All network information is displayed in a window where we can easily view the contents of the PCAP files. With this we can find out whether the information belongs to the LAN or WLAN, which protocols are being used, how much data is being passed, etc. Different types of tools are used to create this application: some to create the UI, others to read the capture or write data to other files or to a database. Fortunately, Python has libraries through which you can be used these tools without the need of other applications.Grado en Ingeniería de Tecnologías de Telecomunicació

Memorization strategy and foreign language learning: a narrative literature review

Memorization strategy as a subset of language learning strategy (LLS) has long been investigated to explain foreign language learners’ learning behaviors and uncover the role that it plays in foreign language learning (FLL). In the past half century, the focus of memorization research in FLL has been shifted from Memorization, Vocabulary Memorization to Text Memorization, which are termed with consideration of the length of language material to memorize. Since memorization strategy use is greatly influenced by varieties of psychological and socio-culture variables, the memorization strategy system becomes more complicated in the process of FLL. The present narrative review attempts to provide an overview of memorization strategy research in the field of FLL by discussing the concepts, categorizations, uses, instructions and influential factors of the three types of memorization strategies. By reviewing the existing studies, this paper proposes that in future research, diversified methods be deployed with the expansion of research perspectives and the enrichment of research topics to reveal the relationship between memorization strategy and FLL more extensively

Investigation of Electric Fields Inside & Outside a Magnetized Cold Plasma Sphere

The analytical expressions of electric fields inside and outside a magnetized cold plasma sphere are presented by re-forming the spherical electromagnetic parameter based on the scales transformation of electromagnetic theory. The obtained results are in good agreement with that in literatures. The angle between the direction of inside field and that of outside field is derived. In S wave band, numerical calculations of effects induced on the inner field by parameters are established. Simulations show that the angle between incident field and the outside magnetic field influences the inner field remarkably. The inner field will decrease as the electron density increasing, however, this density has a great affect on the inner field’s direction. The magnitude of the inner field is proportional to the incident wave’s fre-quency