Row Types Research Articles

An Edge-Based Macao License Plate Recognition System

This paper presents a system to recognize Macao license plates. Sobel edge detector is employed to extract the vertical edges, and an edge composition algorithm is proposed to combine the edges into candidate plate regions. They are further examined on the existence of the character “M” by a verification algorithm. A row separation algorithm is also proposed to cater both one–row and two–row types of plates. Projection analysis and template matching methods are exploited to segment and recognize the characters. Various pre and post processing steps are proposed other than traditional implementation so as to improve the recognition accuracy. This work achieves a high recognition rate of 95%.

Breeding barley for malting quality improvement in India

Grain and malt traits important for malting quality were studied on a set of 131 genotypes including two and six row types barley of indigenous and exotic origin grown at two locations for two seasons. Observations on seven grain and seven malt traits were recorded and malting was done with Phoenix® automatic micro-malting system. The correlation studies indicated that the hot water extract (HWE) is correlated with a number of grain (hectolitre weight, plump %, thin %, protein %, TGW and hull %) and malt (friability, homogeneity, wort viscosity, filtration rate and Kolbach Index) traits either positively or negatively. The multiple regression analysis indicated that hectolitre weight, TGW, hull content and malt friability can be used to predict HWE, the ultimately important trait with malting and brewing industry, in early generations of a breeding programme or for initial screening of germplasm accessions.

Automating Genomic Data Mining via a Sequence-based Matrix Format and Associative Rule Set

There is an enormous amount of information encoded in each genome – enough to create living, responsive and adaptive organisms. Raw sequence data alone is not enough to understand function, mechanisms or interactions. Changes in a single base pair can lead to disease, such as sickle-cell anemia, while some large megabase deletions have no apparent phenotypic effect. Genomic features are varied in their data types and annotation of these features is spread across multiple databases. Herein, we develop a method to automate exploration of genomes by iteratively exploring sequence data for correlations and building upon them. First, to integrate and compare different annotation sources, a sequence matrix (SM) is developed to contain position-dependant information. Second, a classification tree is developed for matrix row types, specifying how each data type is to be treated with respect to other data types for analysis purposes. Third, correlative analyses are developed to analyze features of each matrix row in terms of the other rows, guided by the classification tree as to which analyses are appropriate. A prototype was developed and successful in detecting coinciding genomic features among genes, exons, repetitive elements and CpG islands.

Speciation and biogeography of the Caloglossa leprieurii complex (Delesseriaceae, Rhodophyta).

Studies on the morphology, reproductive compatibility, life cycle and molecular phylogeny of the euryhaline red alga Caloglossa provide insights into the speciation events and biogeographic patterns. The C. leprieurii complex is separated into three morphotypes based on the number of cell rows at nodes and the blade width. The three morphotypes are reproductively incompatible with each other, and furthermore many mating groups are recognized within the morphotypes. Incomplete reproductive isolation is occasionally seen between geographically distant mating groups, whereas no sexual compatibility occurs between sympatrically or parapatrically distributed mating groups. In the molecular phylogenetic analyses, the C. leprieurii complex is resolved as two clusters that phenotypically correspond to the single and multiple cell row types, respectively. The strains belonging to the same mating group are closely related to each other, without exception, while the mating groups showing incomplete reproductive reactions do not always make a clade. The genetic distance is generally not correlative to the geographic distance, and this is also suggested by the morphological data and crossability. These results indicate that allopatric speciation has frequently occurred in this species complex, although there is some evidence of long-distance dispersal.

Genotypic variation in Fe concentration of barley grain

Iron deficiency in humans is the most prevalent micronutrient deficiency worldwide. To screen for high Fe cultivar, genotypic variation in Fe concentration of barley grain was investigated in two collections of barley: 274 standard varieties selected at the Barley Germplasm Center of the Research Institute for Bioresources, Okayama University (SV) and 135 varieties from the Barley Core Collection of Americas (BCCAM). The Fe concentration of barley grain showed large variation, ranging from 24.6 to 63.3 mg kg−1 in SV, from 21.0 to 83.0 mg kg−1 in BCCAM barleys. The Fe concentration was not affected by the key characters of barley varieties, kernel row types, and hulled or hull-less. The Fe concentration was also not related to the place of origin of the barley variety. About 90% of total Fe was localized in the grain without hull. These results provide fundamental data for breeding Fe-rich cultivars and for studying the mechanisms involved in genotypic variation in Fe concentration.

SQL/XML is making good progress

Not very long ago, we discussed the creation of a new part of SQL, XML-Related Specifications (SQL/XML), in this column [1]. At the time, we referred to the work that had been done as "infrastructure". We are pleased to be able to say that significant progress has been made, and SQL/XML [2] is now going out for the first formal stage of processing, Final Committee Draft (FCD) ballot, in ISO/IEC JTC1.In our previous column, we described the mapping of SQL 〈identifier〉s to XML Names, SQL data types to XML Schema data types, and SQL values to XML values. There have been a few small corrections and enhancements in these areas, but for the most part the descriptions in our previous column are still accurate.Thc new work that we will discuss in this column comes in three parts. The first part provides a mapping from a single table, all tables in a schema, or all tables in a catalog to an XML document. The second of these parts includes the creation of an XML data type in SQL and adds functions that create values of this new type. These functions allow a user to produce XML from existing SQL data. Finally, the "infrastructure" work that we described in our previous article included the mapping of SQL's predefined data types to XML Schema data types. This mapping has been extended to include the mapping of domains, distinct types, row types, arrays, and multisets.The FCD ballot that we mentioned began in early April. This will allow the comments contained in the ballot responses to be discussed at the Editing Meeting in September or October of this year. We expect the Editing Meeting to recommend progression to Final Draft International Status (FDIS) ballot, which suggests that an International Standard will be published by the middle of 2003.

Morphological and farmers cognitive diversity of barley (Hordeum vulgare L. (Poaceae)) at Bale and North Shewa of Ethiopia

Twenty two accessions of barley landrace/farmers' varieties collected from Bale and North Shewa in situ conservation zones were characterised using 18 qualitative and quantitative morphological traits. Phenotypic frequencies for individual qualitative characters across in situ conservation zones, districts, and strategic sites (localities) have shown mixed and some peculiar patterns. Varieties from Bale conservation zone are predominantly white-yellow seeded whereas varieties from North Shewa are purple-black seeded. White-yellow seeded varieties are more frequent in the lower altitude examined, and the purple-black seeded varieties are more frequent at the highest altitude (≥ 2650 ). While six row types occur at higher frequencies in almost all the sites in North Shewa, the irregular types are dominant at Bale. The highest frequency of six row types is found at an altitude ≥ 2650 , whereas the two rowed and irregular types are found below 2650 . Two row types occur at low frequency at both sites. At Bale, glume awn shorter than glume is the most frequent character whereas glume awn longer than glume is more frequent at North Shewa. Glume awn longer than glume appears to increase with increasing altitude. Caryopsis cover is relatively monomorphic with respect to distribution across zones. The covered types are most frequent in almost all altitudinal ranges. Estimates of diversity index (H′) for individual qualitative characters suggest that polymorphism is common in varying degrees for most characters, which indicates the existence of wide range of variation. On the basis of cross validation using discriminant function among the quantitative characters, the landrace varieties from North Shewa seem to be more diverse than the ones from Bale. From the results of multiple regression analysis, the zonal variation is significantly associated with all the quantitative morpho-agronomic characters except plant height. The great majority of the varieties from Bale were perfectly identified and named by farmers. The reliability analysis confirmed that there was a remarkable positive degree of consistency between farmers naming of landrace varieties.

EVOLUTIONARY DIVERGENCE IN THE RED ALGAE CALOGLOSSA LEPRIEURII AND C. APOMEIOTICA

Morphological comparisons, hybridization experiments, and molecular phylogenetic analyses using the RUBISCO spacer region were undertaken on 12 populations of Caloglossa leprieurii (Montagne) J. Agardh in order to clarify their relationships. In addition, data from one population of the morphologically similar but asexual species, C. apomeiotica (West et Zuccarello), were included in the assessment. Three morphological types were recognized on the basis of the number of cell rows at nodes of the main axis opposite to the lateral branch and blade width: single/ broad (with three mating groups), multiple/broad (three mating groups) and multiple/slender (one mating group). In the molecular analyses, C. leprieurii was resolved as two clusters that correspond phenetically to the single and multiple cell row types. Both the morphological and molecular data indicate that the asexual species was derived from sexual plants of the multiple cell row type. The reproductive compatibility correlates with genetic distance rather than geographical distance. Sympatric mating groups are completely incompatible and have 10–21 nucleotide changes in the examined region, whereas mating groups that produce abnormal progeny or pseudocystocarps are allopatrically distributed with 5–7 nucleotide changes. The present data suggest that the two populations, one with single and the other with multiple cell rows, which are sympatrically distributed in southeastern Japan, have probably evolved by allopatric speciation. The single/broad type that is restricted to the western Pacific, may have diverged genetically between eastern and western Australia, with subsequent dispersal from the western population as far as Japan.

The BUCKY object-relational benchmark

According to various trade journals and corporate marketing machines, we are now on the verge of a revolution—the object-relational database revolution. Since we believe that no one should face a revolution without appropriate armaments, this paper presents BUCKY, a new benchmark for object-relational database systems. BUCKY is a query-oriented benchmark that tests many of the key features offered by object-relational systems, including row types and inheritance, references and path expressions, sets of atomic values and of references, methods and late binding, and user-defined abstract data types and their methods. To test the maturity of object-relational technology relative to relational technology, we provide both an object-relational version of BUCKY and a relational equivalent thereof (i.e., a relational BUCKY simulation). Finally, we briefly discuss the initial performance results and lessons that resulted from applying BUCKY to one of the early object-relational database system products.

Learning Binary Relations and Total Orders

The problem of learning a binary relation between two sets of objects or between a set and itself is studied. This paper represents a binary relation between a set of size n and a set of size m as an $n \times m$ matrix of bits whose $(i,j)$ entry is 1 if and only if the relation holds between the corresponding elements of the two sets. Polynomial prediction algorithms are presented for learning binary relations in an extended on-line learning model, where the examples are drawn by the learner, by a helpful teacher, by an adversary, or according to a uniform probability distribution on the instance space. The first part of this paper presents results for the case in which the matrix of the relation has at most k row types. It presents upper and lower bounds on the number of prediction mistakes any prediction algorithm makes when learning such a matrix under the extended on-line learning model. Furthermore, it describes a technique that simplifies the proof of expected mistake bounds against a randomly chosen query sequence. In the second part of this paper the problem of learning a binary relation that is a total order on a set is considered. A general technique using a fully polynomial randomized approximation scheme (fpras) to implement a randomized version of the halving algorithm is described. This technique is applied to the problem of learning a total order, through the use of an fpras for counting the number of extensions of a partial order, to obtain a polynomial prediction algorithm that with high probability makes at most $n\lg n + (\lg e)\lg n$ mistakes when an adversary selects the query sequence. The case in which a teacher or the learner selects the query sequence is also considered

Complexation of Zn(II) ion with macrocyclic ligands containing nitrogen-oxygen donors

Abstract