On Visual Detection of Highly-occluded Objects for Harvesting Automation in Horticulture

Developing accurate and reliable crop detection algorithms is an important step for harvesting automation in horticulture. This paper presents a novel approach to visual detection of highly-occluded fruits. We use a conditional random field (CRF) on multi-spectral image data (colour and Near-Infrared Reflectance, NIR) to model two classes: crop and background. To describe these two classes, we explore a range of visual-texture features including local binary pattern, histogram of oriented gradients, and learn auto-encoder features. The pro-posed methods are evaluated using hand-labelled images from a dataset captured on a commercial capsicum farm. Experimental results are presented, and performance is evaluated in terms of the Area Under the Curve (AUC) of the precision-recall curves.Our current results achieve a maximum performance of 0.81AUC when combining all of the texture features in conjunction with colour information.

Visual detection of occluded crop: For automated harvesting

This paper presents a novel crop detection system applied to the challenging task of field sweet pepper (capsicum) detection. The field-grown sweet pepper crop presents several challenges for robotic systems such as the high degree of occlusion and the fact that the crop can have a similar colour to the background (green on green). To overcome these issues, we propose a two-stage system that performs per-pixel segmentation followed by region detection. The output of the segmentation is used to search for highly probable regions and declares these to be sweet pepper. We propose the novel use of the local binary pattern (LBP) to perform crop segmentation. This feature improves the accuracy of crop segmentation from an AUC of 0.10, for previously proposed features, to 0.56. Using the LBP feature as the basis for our two-stage algorithm, we are able to detect 69.2% of field grown sweet peppers in three sites. This is an impressive result given that the average detection accuracy of people viewing the same colour imagery is 66.8%.

Divergence in Patterns of Leaf Growth Polarity Is Associated with the Expression Divergence of miR396

Lateral appendages often show allometric growth with a specific growth polarity along the proximo-distal axis. Studies on leaf growth in model plants have identified a basipetal growth direction with the highest growth rate at the proximal end and progressively lower rates toward the distal end. Although the molecular mechanisms governing such a growth pattern have been studied recently, variation in leaf growth polarity and, therefore, its evolutionary origin remain unknown. By surveying 75 eudicot species, here we report that leaf growth polarity is divergent. Leaf growth in the proximo-distal axis is polar, with more growth arising from either the proximal or the distal end; dispersed with no apparent polarity; or bidirectional, with more growth contributed by the central region and less growth at either end. We further demonstrate that the expression gradient of the miR396-GROWTH-REGULATING FACTOR module strongly correlates with the polarity of leaf growth. Altering the endogenous pattern of miR396 expression in transgenic Arabidopsis thaliana leaves only partially modified the spatial pattern of cell expansion, suggesting that the diverse growth polarities might have evolved via concerted changes in multiple gene regulatory networks.

Reconocimiento automático de objetos de interés in imágenes aéreas

El objetivo principal de este proyecto es la detección automática de objetos de interés en imágenes aéreas de zonas urbanas mediante el uso de descriptores característicos. Los descriptores considerados para esta tarea han sido los histogramas color y los descriptores LBP (Local Binary Pattern), así como la concatenación de ambos dando lugar a descriptores híbridos

改性当地岸沙治理有害赤潮的研究

本论文从生态环境可持续发展观出发，选用了两种天然高分子聚合物壳聚糖与黄原胶作为改性剂，考察了它们在海水体系中的絮凝性能以及改性当地岸沙絮凝除藻的性能，同时探讨了赤泥复合剂絮凝除藻的性能。研究结果表明： 海水体系中的离子强度阻碍了壳聚糖高分子链的舒展，有效除藻时投加量大于50 mg/L；聚合氯化铝的加入，降低了壳聚糖的投加量，并且10 mg/L壳聚糖与10 mg/L聚合氯化铝协同对100 mg/L当地岸沙进行改性，改性后沙子具有较强的除藻效果，3 min后，强壮前沟藻与海洋小球藻的去除率为80%，沉淀4 h后，两种藻的去除率高达92-96%。 黄原胶单独使用时强壮前沟藻的去除率为32%-55%；氢氧化钙的加入，提高了黄原胶的絮凝活性；当黄原胶:氢氧化钙:土壤/沙子=1:5:15时，黄原胶投加量为20 mg/L时，30 min后，强壮前沟藻的去除率为83%-89%。 赤

基于圆形标志点的全自动相机标定方法

相机标定是2D图像重建3D测度信息的关键步骤,也是一项耗时的任务,由于标定过程中经常需要人工寻找对应点。本文提出了一种基于圆形标志点的全自动相机标定方法。首先,在传统圆形标志点模板的基础上增设了5个方位圆。然后提出了新标定板下图像特征点的自动检测和匹配算法。匹配结果直接作为Zhang的算法的输入,从而计算出相机内外参数,避免了标定过程的人工干预。最终实验结果显示了所提方法在不同场景和光照条件下的自动性和正确性。

东营凹陷辛镇复杂断块油藏形成机制和剩余油分布规律研究

In this paper, the complex faulted-block oil reservoir of Xinzhen area in Dongying depression is systematically studied from basic conditions forming faulted-block oil and gas reservoir integrating geology, seismic, logging and reservoir engineering information and computer; guided by petroleum geology, geomechanics, structural geology and geophysics and other theories. Based on analysis of background condition such as regional strata, structure and petroleum geology, structural research on geometry, kinemaitcs and dynamics, oil-controlling fault research on the seal features, sealing mechanism and sealing pattern, and research on enrichment rules and controlling factors of complex faulted-block oil reservoir are carried out to give out the formation mechanics of oil reservoir of Xinzhen complex faulted-block oil reservoir. As a result, the reservoir formation pattern is established. At the same time, through dissecting the characteristics and hydrocarbon enrichment law of complex faulted-block oil reservoir, and studying its distribution law of remaining oil after entering extra high water-cut period, a set of technologies are formed to predict complex faulted-block oil reservoir and its remaining oil distribution and to enhance oil recovery (EOR). Based on the time relationship between migration of hydrocarbon and trap formation, accumulating period of Xinzhen oil reservoir is determined. The formation of Xinzhen anticlinal trap was prior to the primary migration. This is favorable to formation of Xinzhen anticlinal hydrocarbon reservoir. Meanwhile, because anticline top caving isn't at the sane time as that of moving or faulted-trap forming inner anticline, oil and gas migrated many times and Xinzhen complex faulted-block oil reservoir formed from ES_3~(upper) to EG. Accumulating law and controlling factors of complex faulted-block reservoir are analyzed from many aspects such as regional structure background controlling hydrocarbon accumulating, plastic arch-open structure controlling oil-bearing series and reservoir types, sealing-opening of fault controlling hydrocarbon distribution and structure pattern controlling enriched trap types. Also, we established the structure pattern in Xinzhen a'ea: the arch-open of underlying strata cause expanding fracture. The main block groups developed here are shovel-like normal fault block group in the north area of Xinzhen and its associated graben block group. Block groups dominate the formation and distribution of reservoirs. We studied qualitatively and quantitatively the sealing characteristics, sealing history and sealing mechanism of faults, too. And, the sealing characteristics are evaluated and the distribution pattern of hydrocarbon controlled by faults is researched. Due to movement intensity of big faults, deep falling of downthrown block, high degree of repture and development of fracture, shallow layers close to the downthrown block of secondary faults are unfavorable to hydrocarbon accumulation. This is confirmed by the exploration practice in Xinzhen anticline. In terms of the downthrown blocks of sencondary contemporaneous faults lied in the south and north area of Xinzhen, hydrocarbon is poor close to fracture belt, while it is relatively abundant in tertiary companion faults. Because of long-term movement of faults that control hydrocarbon, fi'om ES3 to EG, six set of oil-bearing series formed. And their opening causes the inhomogeneity in hydrocarbon abundance among each block--in two flanks of anticline reservoirs are abundant while in the axial area, oil and gas are sporadic. There the sealing characteristics control oil-bearing area of oil/gas accumulation and the height of oil reservoir. Longitudinally, oil and gas are enriched in dip-flat areas in mid-plane of faults. It is established that there are four types of accumulating patterns in complex faulted-block oil reservoirs in Xinzhen. The first is accumulating pattern of lithologic oil reservoirs in E~S_3~(mid-lowwer), that is, self-generating-self-reserving-self-covering lithologic trap pattern. The second is drag-anticline accumulating pattern in Xinzhen. The structure traps are drag anticlines formed by the contemporaneous faults of the second basement in the north of Xinzhen, and the multiple source rocks involve Ek_2, Es_4, Es_3 and Es_1 members. The reservoirs are fluvial-delta sandstones of the upper member of Shahejie formation and Guantao formation, covered by regional thick mudstone of the upper member of Guantao formation and MingHuazhen formation. The third is the accumulating pattern of reverse listric fault, the third-degree fault of Xinzhen anticline limb and the reservoirs form reservoir screened by reverse listric faults. The forth is accumulating pattern of crossing faults which form closing or semi-closing faulted-blocks that accumulate hydrocarbon. The technologies of predicting remaining oil in complex faulted-block reservoir during the mid and late development stage is formed. Remaining oil in simple large faulted-blocks enriches in structural high, structural middle, structural low of thick bottom water reservoirs, points near bent edge-fault oftertiary faults and part the fourth ones with big falling displacement, microstructure high place of oil-sandbodies and areas where local well pattern isn't perfect. While that in small complex faulted-blocks enriches near small nose, small high point, angle of small faults, small oil-bearing faulted-blocks without well and areas with non-perfect well pattern. The technologies of enhancing recovery factor in complex faulted-block reservoir during the mid and late development stage is formed as follows: fine reservoir description, drilling adjust wells, designing directional wells, sub-dividing layer series of development, improving flooding pattern, changing water-injection direction and enhancing swept volume, cyclic waterflooding and gas-injection, etc. Here, directional wells include directional deflecting wells, lateral-drilling wells, lateral-drilling horizontal wells and horizontal wells. The results of this paper have been used in exploration and development of Shengli oilfield, and have achieved great social and economic profit, especially in predicting distribution of complex faulted-block reservoir, remaining oil distribution during middle and late stage of development, and in EOR. Applying the achievement of fault-closure research, new hydrocarbon-bearing blocks are discovered in flanks of Dongying central uplift and in complex blocks with proved reserves 15 million tons. With the study of remaining oil distribution law in complex faulted-block reservoirs, recovery factors are increased greatly in Dongxin, Xianhe and Linpan complex faulted-block reservoirs and accumulated oil production increment is 3 million tons.

HDAC3 is crucial in shear- and VEGF-induced stem cell differentiation toward endothelial cells

Reendothelialization involves endothelial progenitor cell (EPC) homing, proliferation, and differentiation, which may be influenced by fluid shear stress and local flow pattern. This study aims to elucidate the role of laminar flow on embryonic stem (ES) cell differentiation and the underlying mechanism. We demonstrated that laminar flow enhanced ES cell-derived progenitor cell proliferation and differentiation into endothelial cells (ECs). Laminar flow stabilized and activated histone deacetylase 3 (HDAC3) through the Flk-1-PI3K-Akt pathway, which in turn deacetylated p53, leading to p21 activation. A similar signal pathway was detected in vascular endothelial growth factor-induced EC differentiation. HDAC3 and p21 were detected in blood vessels during embryogenesis. Local transfer of ES cell-derived EPC incorporated into injured femoral artery and reduced neointima formation in a mouse model. These data suggest that shear stress is a key regulator for stem cell differentiation into EC, especially in EPC differentiation, which can be used for vascular repair, and that the Flk-1-PI3K-Akt-HDAC3-p53-p21 pathway is crucial in such a process.

Effets neurophysiologiques de la stimulation du nerf vague : implication dans le traitement de la dépression résistante et optimisation des paramètres de stimulation

La dépression est une pathologie grave qui, malgré de multiples stratégies thérapeutiques, demeure résistante chez un tiers des patients. Les techniques de stimulation cérébrale sont devenues une alternative intéressante pour les patients résistants à diverses pharmacothérapies. La stimulation du nerf vague (SNV) a ainsi fait preuve de son efficacité en clinique et a récemment été approuvée comme traitement additif pour la dépression résistante. Cependant, les mécanismes d’action de la SNV en rapport avec la dépression n’ont été que peu étudiés. Cette thèse a donc eu comme premier objectif de caractériser l’impact de la SNV sur les différents systèmes monoaminergiques impliqués dans la pathophysiologie de la dépression, à savoir la sérotonine (5-HT), la noradrénaline (NA) et la dopamine (DA), grâce à l’utilisation de techniques électrophysiologiques et de la microdialyse in vivo chez le rat. Des études précliniques avaient déjà révélé qu’une heure de SNV augmente le taux de décharge des neurones NA du locus coeruleus, et que 14 jours de stimulation sont nécessaires pour observer un effet comparable sur les neurones 5-HT. Notre travail a démontré que la SNV modifie aussi le mode de décharge des neurones NA qui présente davantage de bouffées, influençant ainsi la libération terminale de NA, qui est significativement augmentée dans le cortex préfrontal et l’hippocampe après 14 jours. L’augmentation de la neurotransmission NA s’est également manifestée par une élévation de l’activation tonique des récepteurs postsynaptiques α2-adrénergiques de l’hippocampe. Après lésion des neurones NA, nous avons montré que l’effet de la SNV sur les neurones 5-HT était indirect, et médié par le système NA, via l’activation des récepteurs α1-adrénergiques présents sur les neurones du raphé. Aussi, tel que les antidépresseurs classiques, la SNV augmente l’activation tonique des hétérorécepteurs pyramidaux 5-HT1A, dont on connait le rôle clé dans la réponse thérapeutique aux antidépresseurs. Par ailleurs, nous avons constaté que malgré une diminution de l’activité électrique des neurones DA de l’aire tegmentale ventrale, la SNV induit une augmentation de la DA extracellulaire dans le cortex préfrontal et particulièrement dans le noyau accumbens, lequel joue un rôle important dans les comportements de récompense et l’hédonie. Un deuxième objectif a été de caractériser les paramètres optimaux de SNV agissant sur la dépression, en utilisant comme indicateur le taux de décharge des neurones 5-HT. Des modalités de stimulation moins intenses se sont avérées aussi efficaces que les stimulations standards pour augmenter l’activité électrique des neurones 5-HT. Ces nouveaux paramètres de stimulation pourraient s’avérer bénéfiques en clinique, chez des patients ayant déjà répondu à la SNV. Ils pourraient minimiser les effets secondaires reliés aux périodes de stimulation et améliorer ainsi la qualité de vie des patients. Ainsi, ces travaux de thèse ont caractérisé l’influence de la SNV sur les trois systèmes monoaminergiques, laquelle s’avère en partie distincte de celle des antidépresseurs classiques tout en contribuant à son efficacité en clinique. D’autre part, les modalités de stimulation que nous avons définies seraient intéressantes à tester chez des patients recevant la SNV, car elles devraient contribuer à l’amélioration des bénéfices cliniques de cette thérapie.

Content Based Image Retrieval System for Malayalam Handwritten Characters

Content Based Image Retrieval is one of the prominent areas in Computer Vision and Image Processing. Recognition of handwritten characters has been a popular area of research for many years and still remains an open problem. The proposed system uses visual image queries for retrieving similar images from database of Malayalam handwritten characters. Local Binary Pattern (LBP) descriptors of the query images are extracted and those features are compared with the features of the images in database for retrieving desired characters. This system with local binary pattern gives excellent retrieval performance

A study of co-precipitated bimetallic gold catalysts for water-gas shift reaction

Synthesis, testing and characterisation of bimetallic gold, Au-M on ceria as catalysts were carried out for low temperature water-gas shift reaction (WGS). Amongst the entire screened catalysts 3 wt% (AU-Pt)/CeO2 displayed the best WGS activity than the monometallic promotors, giving the light-off curve at the lowest temperature in the range 100-300 degrees C. (Au-Pd)/CeO2 also achieved the same activity but at a higher temperature. It was also found that WGS activity was strongly correlated with the surface reducibility which in turn depended on the modified local electronic band structure of promoted ceria. These results clearly suggest that the key role of bimetallic promoter may involve in facilitating the creation of defective reduced surface by exerting its local electronic effect on ceria to form the surface germinal -OH groups in water which act as active sites for enhanced WGS activity. (C) 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Caracterização sócio-ambiental do bairro de Felipe Camarão- Natal/ RN

The rapid growth of the Brazilian cities in the latest years has brought a series of problems regarding housing policies and, therefore, the provision of dwellings for the low-income class people. Following the pattern of other capital cities, Natal has repeated the pattern of urbanization practiced in the country, which concentrates the low-income class inhabitants in specific zones of the city known as peripheries or even in a dwelling place for less-favored classes such as Felipe Camarão, which is one of ten boroughs belonging to the western administrative zone, a region which has historically received less attention from the public administrators towards infrastructure investments. Based on those aspects, the general objective of this work is to investigate which main social-environmental alterations have resulted from the processes of urbanization and field occupation in that area. The specific objectives are concerned with verifying 1) the process of urbanization and the process of dividing urban soil from the 1960s; 2) the current configuration of the public spaces in the borough; 3) the process of the deprivation of the original landscape characteristics of Environmental Protection Zones; 4) the dynamics of land occupation which are predominant in dune areas; 5) the dynamics of land occupation which are predominant in mangrove areas; 6) and the destruction of green covering on the land with its consequent alteration of the local floristic pattern. The methodology consisted of in-loco visits; the application of questionnaires as community research; a survey of bibliography published by the organisms and institutions in charge of carrying out the city hall s environmental and housing policies; and descriptive statistics of the collected data. Concerning the pattern of occupation which is predominant in the borough, the treatment of space dispensed by the local dwellers has culminated in the emergence and consolidation of environmental alterations which are clearly different from common occurrence in both the building area represented by housing complexes and in the green areas represented by dunes and mangroves. The data show that there was the predominance of the irregular land occupation process over the official housing policy during the population settlement which contributed with a series of frequent and foreseeable problems in the dynamics of urbanization of poverty such as invasions and appropriations of land parcels, the beginning of irregular arrangement of streets, the formation of villages and slums, which are full of self-constructed housing units, and the occupation and degradation of susceptibly fragile environmental areas such as the dune slopes and the mangroves

Detecção de impressões digitais fraudulentas utilizando padrões mapeados localmente em multiescala

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES)

Análise do descritor de padrões mapeados localmente em multiescala para classificação de textura em imagens digitais

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)

Computational modelling of human stem cell-derived cardiomyocytes - Texture descriptors for biological image processing

This thesis investigates two distinct research topics. The main topic (Part I) is the computational modelling of cardiomyocytes derived from human stem cells, both embryonic (hESC-CM) and induced-pluripotent (hiPSC-CM). The aim of this research line lies in developing models of the electrophysiology of hESC-CM and hiPSC-CM in order to integrate the available experimental data and getting in-silico models to be used for studying/making new hypotheses/planning experiments on aspects not fully understood yet, such as the maturation process, the functionality of the Ca2+ hangling or why the hESC-CM/hiPSC-CM action potentials (APs) show some differences with respect to APs from adult cardiomyocytes. Chapter I.1 introduces the main concepts about hESC-CMs/hiPSC-CMs, the cardiac AP, and computational modelling. Chapter I.2 presents the hESC-CM AP model, able to simulate the maturation process through two developmental stages, Early and Late, based on experimental and literature data. Chapter I.3 describes the hiPSC-CM AP model, able to simulate the ventricular-like and atrial-like phenotypes. This model was used to assess which currents are responsible for the differences between the ventricular-like AP and the adult ventricular AP. The secondary topic (Part II) consists in the study of texture descriptors for biological image processing. Chapter II.1 provides an overview on important texture descriptors such as Local Binary Pattern or Local Phase Quantization. Moreover the non-binary coding and the multi-threshold approach are here introduced. Chapter II.2 shows that the non-binary coding and the multi-threshold approach improve the classification performance of cellular/sub-cellular part images, taken from six datasets. Chapter II.3 describes the case study of the classification of indirect immunofluorescence images of HEp2 cells, used for the antinuclear antibody clinical test. Finally the general conclusions are reported.