Spinneret Image Region of Interest Segmentation Algorithm

In order to improve the accuracy of spinneret defect detection, a spinneret image region of interest segmentation algorithm is proposed for the problem that the complex background of spinneret image interferes seriously with the subsequent detection. The mask image is obtained by separating the fixed plate area and the spinneret wall area using the diffuse water filling method, and the minimum external circle and the maximum internal circle in the mask image are found using contour detection to obtain the mask image of the spinneret area, and then the spinneret area, i.e. the Region of Interest (ROI), is extracted. The experimental results show that this method can effectively separate the spinneret region and reduce the background interference.

Prakseologiczna interpretacja zjawiska administracji publicznej z perspektywy relatywizmu granic organizacji

PRAXSEOLOGICAL INTERPRETATION OF THE PHENOMENON OF PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION FROM THE PERSPECTIVE OF RELATIVISM BOUNDARIES OF ORGANIZATIONAn approach to public administration presented in the article is based on the assumption of the immediacy of applying research methods in the area of organization and management for the description and analysis of the composition and functioning of institutions included in the public administration. The article takes into account the consequences of the system’s transformation in Poland from the early 1990s as aresult of which the public administration was rebuilt by replacing the previous model of the state administration corresponding to the objectives of the socialist state’s political system, ahighly bloated multi-sector organizational system, which makes for considering the participation of members of particular administrative institutions at different degrees of their organization concurrently and in parallel. The result of this study leads to the conclusion that public administration institutions have relative boundaries of their organisational separation and thus the same people can simultaneously participate in anumber of institutions belonging to the core, the external circle and the environment while at the same within the same institution there can come to such parallel multiplicity of participation. Examples of government administration and local government institutions have been presented to illustrate these claims.

English voices in ‘Text-to-speech tools’: representation of English users and their varieties from a World Englishes perspective

English has experienced grave transformations recently in terms of socio-demographic and geographical characteristics. While such transformations have resulted in diverse types of English uses and various English users, the existing ELT materials still fail to represent the global varieties and dynamic uses and users of English. Moving from a World Englishes perspective, this paper investigates a corpus of online Text-to-Speech tools and software to discuss their suitability for teaching English according to the plurithic view of English, which throws focus on various users and uses of English. Analysed via quantitative content analysis, the data showed that TTS tools promoted the Inner circle (native-English) varieties over the Outer and External circle (non-native) varieties and non-native accents. In addition, the absolute absence of users from the Expanding circle was observed as no speakers from this circle was available in the tools analysed. The findings suggest that a satisfactory World Englishes perspective has not yet been taken into consideration in the present Text-to-Speech tools. There is, thus, a crucial need for a shift in the design of such tools to get them adjusted to represent different types of English users and uses.

Buckleyella ornata n. sp. (Nematoda: Philometridae) from the abdominal cavity of the talang queenfish Scomberoides commersonnianus (Perciformes: Carangidae) off the northern coast of Australia

A new nematode species, Buckleyella ornata n. sp. (Philometridae), is described from female specimens found in the abdominal cavity (mesenteries) of the talang queenfish Scomberoides commersonnianus Lacepède (Carangidae, Perciformes) caught in Darwin Harbour, northern Australia. Based on light and scanning electron microscopical examination, the new species mainly differs from the only other congeneric species B. buckleyi Rasheed, 1963 in having a markedly shorter oesophagus (2.04–2.75 mm long), by the absence of a cephalic mound around the mouth aperture, by the presence of four submedian cephalic papillae of the inner circle, and by a somewhat different arrangement of cuticular ornamentations on the body surface. Three protruding oesophageal teeth and large, dome-shaped cephalic papillae of the external circle present in the smallest gravid female of B. ornata are atrophied in larger conspecific gravid females. Buckleyella ornata is the first known nominal species of a philometrid parasitizing carangid fishes in Australian waters.

Modeling Through Traffic Speed at Roundabouts Along Urban and Suburban Street Arterials

A total of 30 roundabouts with different dimensions and characteristics were selected from three cities in Jordan. The collected data included the approaching road free flow speed (FFS), area type, entry width, circulating roadway width, exit width, roundabout internal and external circle diameters, circulating roadway super elevation, entry deviation angle, and drive curve. The regression analysis showed that the entry width, internal circulating diameter, entry deviation angle, approaching FFS, and drive curve were significant in determining the average and 85th percentile roundabout circulating speed. The developed model was compared with other international models developed in the United States and Italy.

Female morphology of Philometra parasiluri (Nematoda, Philometridae), an ocular parasite of the Amur catfish Silurus asotus in Japan

The female morphology of the nematode Philometra parasiluri Yamaguti, 1935 (Philometridae) is described based on a sub-gravid specimen found in the oculo-orbit of the Amur catfish Silurus asotus Linnaeus of Lake Biwa, Honshu, Japan collected in April 2007. Light and scanning electron microscopical examination made it possible to study in detail the morphology of this so far little-known species. In contrast to the original species description, no cuticular bosses are found on the body surface; in addition to the previously reported eight large cephalic papillae of the external circle, the cephalic end also bears six (2 lateral and 4 submedian) small papillae of the internal circle and a pair of inconspicuous amphids; no oesophageal teeth are present and the anterior oesophageal lobes are slightly elevated; two large, lateral, papilla-like caudal projections are present. To date P. parasiluri has been found only in Japan and the present finding represents the third documented record of this species. Philometra parasiluri probably has a pronounced annual maturation cycle with the period of the production of larvae in the late spring and summer.

New observations on Micropleura australiensis (Nematoda, Dracunculoidea), a parasite of crocodiles in Australia

Scanning electron microscopy examination of male and female specimens of Micropleura australiensis Moravec, Kay et Hobbs, 2004 (Nematoda, Dracunculoidea) from the peritoneal cavity of the freshwater crocodile Crocodylus johnsoni of the Ord River in Western Australia revealed some previously unreported morphological features. The male, first studied by SEM, possesses the same number (14) of cephalic papillae as the gravid female, but these are comparatively larger and somewhat differently arranged; four slit-like depressions located near the inner base of male dorsolateral and ventrolateral cephalic papillae of the external circle are present. The inner margin of the female oral aperture is smooth, without papilla-like formations. The male caudal end is provided with a right-side ventral ala. The transverse cuticular striae on the male ventral surface bear minute ornamentations (rows of papilla-like formations) in the pre-and postcloacal region. For the first time, M. australiensis is reported from wild and farmed Crocodylus johnsoni and saltwater crocodile C. porosus (new host record) from four localities in the Northern Territory, Australia.

FREE-LIVING MARINE NEMATODES OF RHODE ISLAND WATERS

Description of five species of marine nematodes from coarse beach sand at Narragansett, Rhode Island, are recorded. Described and figured as new are Enoplolaimus enatus, E. regius, Synodontium narragansettense, and Bathylaimus capacosus. Bathylaimus stenolaimus Schuurmans Stekhoven and de Coninck, 1933 is described as having the six long setae in the external circle of cephalic setae segmented. A key to the species of Synodontium Cobb, 1920 is provided.