In this paper we present new image quality database VCL@FER (
http://www.vcl.fer.hr/quality/
) which consists of four degradation types, 6 levels of each degradation and 23 different images (552 ...degraded images). It can be used in objective image quality evaluation, as well as to develop and test new image quality measures. Results for six commonly used full reference objective quality measures are compared using newly developed image database, as well as 6 other image databases.
VCL@FER baza slika nova je baza slika (http://www.vcl.fer.hr/quality/) koja se sastoji od 4 vrste izobličenja, 6 razina svakog izobličenja i 23 različite slike (ukupno 552 izobličene slike). Baza ...slika može se koristiti za usporedbu različitih objektivnih mjera kvalitete slike, kao i za razvoj novih objektivnih mjera. Uporabom nove baze te još šest dostupnih baza slika provedena je usporedba šest relevantnih objektivnih mjere kvalitete slike.
Fusarium virguliforme Aoki, O'Donnell, Homma and Lattanzi (FV), a causal organism of sudden death syndrome (SDS), and Heterodera glycines Ichinohe, the soybean cyst nematode (SCN), are two of the ...most important soil-borne pathogens affecting soybean production in the USA. These pathogens often occur together in production fields and interact, which results in significant yield losses. In co-infected plants, SDS symptoms appear earlier and are more severe than in plants infected by FV alone. However, the mechanism of the SCN-FV interaction remains unclear. Fusarium virguliforme is able to infect soybean plants of different growth stages, but plants infected at younger stages develop more severe foliar SDS symptoms than plants infected later. The effect of SCN infection on age-related resistance to SDS is unknown. A set of greenhouse experiments were conducted to investigate: 1) how the presence of SCN in soybean roots affects the FV infection process and SDS severity, and characterize the effect of water availability on the SCN-FV interaction in soybean roots, and 2) investigate if age-related resistance of older soybean plants to SDS is affected by SCN infection. Foliar SDS severity was always greater in co-infected plants than in plants infected by FV alone in all experiments. The amount of available soil water affected foliar SDS severity. Plants grown under normal watering showed more foliar SDS than plants in reduced watering treatments. Foliar severity, expressed as the area under the disease progress curve (AUDPC), was greater in the SCN-susceptible cultivar (AG2403) than in the SCN-resistant cultivar (MACO24757). No evidence was found that root rot severity was consistently affected by the SCN-FV interaction, but root rot decreased as the plant age at inoculation with FV increased. Root weight was reduced by infection with FV, but was not significantly affected by SCN or watering regimes. Root weight increased as the plant age at infection with FV increased. Cultivar AG2403 had greater root weight than cultivar MACO24757. The number of SCN females was greater under reduced watering regime. SCN syncytia were found predominantly in the stele in the absence of FV, and in the cortex in the presence of FV. Mycelia of FV were found more frequently in the cortex when SCN was present, and more frequently in the stele under reduced watering. Microscopic observations showed the majority of root tips were colonized by FV. These findings suggest the importance of lateral roots for FV colonization of soybean roots.
Disease-warning systems are management tools that use information about the pathogen, host and/or environment to advise growers when to efficiently take management actions, such as fungicide sprays. ...This study examined usage of alternative weather information as inputs to disease-warning systems for control of sooty blotch and flyspeck (SBFS) of apple and watermelon anthracnose, as well as the morphology of isolates of the SBFS fungi that grouped with the Mycosphaerellaceae. The first objective was to evaluate the effectiveness of alternative sources of weather data as inputs to disease-warning systems for sooty blotch and flyspeck (SBFS) on apple and watermelon anthracnose caused by Colletotrichum orbiculare (Berk & Mont.) Arx (1957) on watermelon in replicated field trials conducted in Iowa during 2006 to 2008. Leaf wetness duration (LWD) data estimated by commercial site-specific technology, or by model-based corrections of these estimates, were compared with measurements made by on-site sensors. In both warning systems, using remotely estimated and model-corrected LWD data resulted in disease levels that were similar or equal to those observed when using on-site measurements. Our study provides evidence that remotely estimated LWD data and model-corrected versions of these data may be used successfully in implementation of warning systems for SBFS on apple and anthracnose on watermelon. The second objective was to examine the morphology and rDNA sequences of 124 isolates of SBFS fungi from Germany and the U.S. Parsimony analysis of the internal transcribed spacer (ITS) region of the rDNA grouped isolates into 14 clades. Molecular evidence coupled with morphology of representative isolates from each clade on preserved apple peels and on media indicated that there were 10 SBFS species among the isolates. Five putative species were placed in the anamorph genus Pseudocercosporella, and two putative species were placed in the anamorph genus Ramichloridium. Three putative species designated as sterile mycelia did not produce conidia. Parsimony analysis of the large subunit (LSU) region of rDNA placed all 10 putative species near Mycosphaerella madeirae with bootstrap support of 66%. The genus Mycosphaerella consists of several thousand species; our findings help to clarify taxonomic placement of these anamorph species of SBFS within the family Mycosphaerellaceae.
The government says it is keen to revitalize and invest more in its cash-starved research system, which has an annual budget of about €100 million (US$115 million) and last put out a grant call ...nearly a decade ago. The government's intention is to separate grant funds from salary: until now, researchers' wages have been paid out of their grants. Popović adds that the laws have also been designed to allow a wider set of stakeholders to invest in science: the government's longterm goal is for the private sector to provide two-thirds of overall research funding.
A Croatian theoretical physicist has been released from prison after he was jailed in August following a two-month sit-in at the science ministry in Zagreb.
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