Improved Fully Convolutional Siamese Networks for Visual Object Tracking Based on Response Behaviour Analysis.

Siamese networks have recently attracted significant attention in the visual tracking community due to their balanced accuracy and speed. However, as a result of the non-update of the appearance model and the changing appearance of the target, the problem of tracking drift is a regular occurrence, particularly in background clutter scenarios. As a means of addressing this problem, this paper proposes an improved fully convolutional Siamese tracker that is based on response behaviour analysis (SiamFC-RBA). Firstly, the response map of the SiamFC is normalised to an 8-bit grey image, and the isohypse contours that represent the candidate target region are generated through thresholding. Secondly, the dynamic behaviour of the contours is analysed in order to check if there are distractors approaching the tracked target. Finally, a peak switching strategy is used as a means of determining the real tracking position of all candidates. Extensive experiments conducted on visual tracking benchmarks, including OTB100, GOT-10k and LaSOT, demonstrated that the proposed tracker outperformed the compared trackers such as DaSiamRPN, SiamRPN, SiamFC, CSK, CFNet and Staple and achieved state-of-the-art performance. In addition, the response behaviour analysis module was embedded into DiMP, with the experimental results showing the performance of the tracker to be improved through the use of the proposed architecture.

Genetic basis for glandular trichome formation in cotton.

Trichomes originate from epidermal cells and can be classified as either glandular or non-glandular. Gossypium species are characterized by the presence of small and darkly pigmented lysigenous glands that contain large amounts of gossypol. Here, using a dominant glandless mutant, we characterize GoPGF, which encodes a basic helix-loop-helix domain-containing transcription factor, that we propose is a positive regulator of gland formation. Silencing GoPGF leads to a completely glandless phenotype. A single nucleotide insertion in GoPGF, introducing a premature stop codon is found in the duplicate recessive glandless mutant (gl2gl3). The characterization of GoPGF helps to unravel the regulatory network of glandular structure biogenesis, and has implications for understanding the production of secondary metabolites in glands. It also provides a potential molecular basis to generate glandless seed and glanded cotton to not only supply fibre and oil but also provide a source of protein for human consumption.