Zero-Annotation Object Detection with Web Knowledge Transfer

Object detection is one of the major problems in computer vision, and has been extensively studied. Most of the existing detection works rely on labor-intensive supervision, such as ground truth bounding boxes of objects or at least image-level annotations. On the contrary, we propose an object detection method that does not require any form of human annotation on target tasks, by exploiting freely available web images. In order to facilitate effective knowledge transfer from web images, we introduce a multi-instance multi-label domain adaption learning framework with two key innovations. First of all, we propose an instance-level adversarial domain adaptation network with attention on foreground objects to transfer the object appearances from web domain to target domain. Second, to preserve the class-specific semantic structure of transferred object features, we propose a simultaneous transfer mechanism to transfer the supervision across domains through pseudo strong label generation. With our end-to-end framework that simultaneously learns a weakly supervised detector and transfers knowledge across domains, we achieved significant improvements over baseline methods on the benchmark datasets.Comment: Accepted in ECCV 201

Coexistence of pseudospin- and valley-Hall-like edge states in a photonic crystal with C3v symmetry

We demonstrate the coexistence of pseudospin- and valley-Hall-like edge states in a photonic crystal with C 3 v symmetry, which is composed of three interlacing triangular sublattices with the same lattice constants. By tuning the geometry of the sublattices, three complete photonic band gaps with nontrivial topology can be created, one of which is due to the band inversion associated with the pseudospin degree of freedom at the Γ point and the other two due to the gapping out of Dirac cones associated with the valley degree of freedom at the K , K ′ points. The system can support triband pseudospin- and valley-momentum locking edge states at properly designed domain-wall interfaces. Furthermore, to demonstrate the novel interplay of the two kinds of edge states in a single configuration, we design a four-channel system, where the unidirectional routing of electromagnetic waves against sharp bends between two routes can be selectively controlled by the pseudospin and valley degrees of freedom. Our work combines the pseudospin and valley degrees of freedom in a single configuration and may provide more flexibility in manipulating electromagnetic waves with promising potential for multiband and multifunctional applications

Carbonated Drinks Impact Follicle Development, Expression of Ovarian FSHR and Serum Caspase-3 in Mice

Objectives: The present study aimed to assess the effects of Coca-Cola and Pepsi-Cola on the development of ovaries and follicles, and on the reproduction of animals

Efficiency of Two Sample Tests via the t-Mean Survival Time for Analyzing Event Time Observations

In comparing two treatments with the event time observations, the hazard ratio (HR) estimate is routinely used to quantify the treatment difference. However, this model dependent estimate may be difficult to interpret clinically especially when the proportional hazards (PH) assumption is violated. An alternative estimation procedure for treatment efficacy based on the restricted means survival time or t-year mean survival time (t-MST) has been discussed extensively in the statistical and clinical literature. On the other hand, a statistical test 1 via the HR or its asymptotically equivalent counterpart, the logrank test, is asymptotically distribution-free. In this paper, we assess the relative efficiency of the hazard ratio and t-MST tests with respect to the statistical power using various PH and non-PH models under theoretical and practical settings. When the PH assumption is valid, the t-MST test performs almost as well as the HR test. For non-PH models, the t-MST test can substantially outperform its HR counter- part. On the other hand, the HR test can be powerful when the true difference of two survival functions is quite large at end of the study. Unfortunately, for this case, the HR estimate may not have a simple clinical interpretation for the treatment effect due to the violation of the PH assumption

Hidden Markov Models and their Application for Predicting Failure Events

We show how Markov mixed membership models (MMMM) can be used to predict the degradation of assets. We model the degradation path of individual assets, to predict overall failure rates. Instead of a separate distribution for each hidden state, we use hierarchical mixtures of distributions in the exponential family. In our approach the observation distribution of the states is a finite mixture distribution of a small set of (simpler) distributions shared across all states. Using tied-mixture observation distributions offers several advantages. The mixtures act as a regularization for typically very sparse problems, and they reduce the computational effort for the learning algorithm since there are fewer distributions to be found. Using shared mixtures enables sharing of statistical strength between the Markov states and thus transfer learning. We determine for individual assets the trade-off between the risk of failure and extended operating hours by combining a MMMM with a partially observable Markov decision process (POMDP) to dynamically optimize the policy for when and how to maintain the asset.Comment: Will be published in the proceedings of ICCS 2020; @Booklet{EasyChair:3183, author = {Paul Hofmann and Zaid Tashman}, title = {Hidden Markov Models and their Application for Predicting Failure Events}, howpublished = {EasyChair Preprint no. 3183}, year = {EasyChair, 2020}

Generation of Orbital Angular Momentum by a Point Defect in Photonic Crystals

As an attractive degree of freedom in electromagnetic (EM) waves, the orbital angular momentum (OAM) enables infinite communication channels for both classical and quantum communications. The exploration of OAM generation inspires various designs involving spiral phase plates, antenna arrays, metasurfaces, and computer-generated holograms. In this work, we theoretically and experimentally demonstrate an approach to producing OAM carrying EM waves by a point defect in three-dimensional (3D) photonic crystals (PCs). Simultaneous excitation of two vibrational-defect states with an elaborately engineered phase retardation generates a rotational state carrying OAM. Through converting guided waves in a line defect to localized waves in a point defect and then to radiated vortex waves in free space, the lowest four OAM-mode emitters, i.e., OAM indices of ± 1 and ± 2 , are successfully realized. This work offers a physical mechanism to generate OAM by PCs, especially when the OAM generation is to be integrated with other designs

Quasi-Continuous Metasurfaces for Orbital Angular Momentum Generation

A quasi-continuous composite perfect electric conductor-perfect magnetic conductor metasurface and a systematic metasurface design process are proposed for the orbital angular momentum (OAM) generation. The metasurfaces reflect the incident left circularly polarized (LCP)/right circularly polarized (RCP) plane wave to RCP/LCP vortex beams carrying OAM at normal or oblique direction. Unlike conventional metasurfaces that are composed of discrete scatterers, the scatterers on the proposed metasurface form a quasi-continuous pattern. The patterning of the metasurface is calculated through grating vectors, and no optimization of single scatterer is required. Furthermore, the distortions from local-response discontinuity of discrete scatterers are avoided. This letter provides great convenience to high-quality OAM generation

Empirical study of correlated survival times for recurrent events with proportional hazards margins and the effect of correlation and censoring.

Background: In longitudinal studies where subjects experience recurrent incidents over a period of time, such as respiratory infections, fever or diarrhea, statistical methods are required to take into account the within-subject correlation. Methods: For repeated events data with censored failure, the independent increment (AG), marginal (WLW) and conditional (PWP) models are three multiple failure models that generalize Cox"s proportional hazard model. In this paper, we revise the efficiency, accuracy and robustness of all three models under simulated scenarios with varying degrees of within-subject correlation, censoring levels, maximum number of possible recurrences and sample size. We also study the methods performance on a real dataset from a cohort study with bronchial obstruction. Results: We find substantial differences between methods and there is not an optimal method. AG and PWP seem to be preferable to WLW for low correlation levels but the situation reverts for high correlations. Conclusions: All methods are stable in front of censoring, worsen with increasing recurrence levels and share a bias problem which, among other consequences, makes asymptotic normal confidence intervals not fully reliable, although they are well developed theoretically

Altered cell cycle regulation helps stem-like carcinoma cells resist apoptosis

Reemergence of carcinomas following chemotherapy and/or radiotherapy is not well understood, but a recent study in BMC Cancer suggests that resistance to apoptosis resulting from altered cell cycle regulation is crucial