Low-illumination images are usually taken in non-uniform environmental light, such as extremely dark or bright light or artificial light. The enhancement results achieved by existing techniques are ...prone to halo artifacts, color unnaturalness, and information loss. To address these problems, we present a physical lighting model that describes the degradation of poor illumination images, in which the environmental light is a point-wise variable and changes with the local light source. As long as the parameters in the model are properly estimated, the low-illumination images can be directly recovered by solving the model. First, the initial environmental light can be considered as the incident component according to the Retinex theory and estimated via a Gaussian surrounding function. Second, the environmental light and light-scattering attenuation rate are iteratively adjusted with the information loss constraint. Finally, to restrain the halo and block effects, the two parameters are refined by the weighted guide filter. The experimental results indicate that the proposed algorithm can improve the appearance of low-illumination images that are captured in different scenes, reveal the details in textured regions with few halo effects, increase the richness of the visible edges, retain color consistency and reproduce the color quality and naturalness.
•The combination effects of fiber and lime or cement on strength behaviors were given.•The strength parameters of treated soils with different fiber contents were compared.•The differences between ...peak and residual strengths of treated soils were revealed.
This paper presents an experimental investigation on the strength properties of fiber-reinforced clayey soil stabilized with lime or cement at lower content (5% by weight) cured for 28 days. A series of consolidated undrained (CU) triaxial compression tests and unconfined compressive (UC) strength tests were conducted on compacted untreated, lime-treated and cement-treated clayey soil specimens reinforced with different polyester fiber content (i.e., 0%, 0.05%, 0.1%, 0.2% by weight) to evaluate the effect of fiber content on the strength behavior of tested soil. Test results indicated that the addition of lime or cement gave a significant increase in strength and strength parameters at a certain fiber content, where the improvement effect of cement is better than that of lime. Strain-softening curves were obtained for lime-treated or cement-treated fiber-reinforced specimens compared with the strain-hardening for fiber-reinforced ones. The residual strength is about 75% on average the peak strength for fiber and lime-treated specimens compared to about 50% decrease of peak strength for fiber and cement-treated specimens. The stress and strain curve for the specimen with higher fiber content lies above on that with lower fiber content. Fiber-reinforced plain soil showed a ductile failure mode compared with brittle failure mode for lime or cement-treated specimen. The values of undrained shear strength, unconfined compressive strength, cohesion and internal friction angle of plain soil and lime-treated soil followed the same increase trend when the polyester fiber content increased from 0% to 0.2%. While for lime-treated soil specimens, peak values can be observed when the fiber content was 0.1%. It is recommended to use the optimum fiber content to achieve a better improvement effect in the engineering applications.
Quantum transducers that can convert quantum signals from the microwave to the optical domain are a crucial optical interface for quantum information technology. Coherent microwave-to-optics ...conversions have been realized with various physical platforms, but all of them are limited to low efficiencies of less than 50%—the threshold of the no-cloning quantum regime. Here we report coherent microwave-to-optics transduction using Rydberg atoms and off-resonant scattering technique with an efficiency of 82 ± 2% and a bandwidth of about 1 MHz. The high conversion efficiency is maintained for microwave photons ranging from thousands to about 50, suggesting that our transduction is readily applicable to the single-photon level. Without requiring cavities or aggressive cooling for the quantum ground states, our results would push atomic transducers closer to practical applications in quantum technologies.The demonstration of high-efficiency coherent microwave-to-optics conversion could push atomic transducers closer to practical applications in quantum technologies.
Although citrus peel is a waste material, it contains a variety of bioactive components. As our preliminary findings showed that citrus peels fermented with
T1 contained increased levels of ...anti-obesity flavonoids, the objective of this study was to prepare fermented citrus peel and to investigate its effect on ameliorating obesity in Sprague Dawley (SD) rats fed with a high-fat diet (HFD). After fermentation, the amounts of limonene, nobiletin and 3-methoxynobiletin in citrus peel were markedly increased. SD rats were fed with an HFD for 10 weeks, followed by fermented citrus peel-containing HFD (0.3% or 0.9%
/
) for 6 weeks. Compared with those fed with an HFD alone, lower levels of body weight, visceral fat, body fat percentage, blood triglyceride, total cholesterol, low-density lipoprotein, malondialdehyde and hepatic adipose accumulation were observed in rats fed with fermented citrus peel. In parallel, hepatic levels of acetyl-CoA carboxylase and fatty acid synthase were diminished, and the level of hormone sensitivity lipase in visceral fat was elevated. These results reveal fermented citrus peel is a promising natural product with beneficial effects of alleviating HFD-induced obesity.
► We propose a procedure to manufacture of lightweight aggregates from water treatment sludges. ► Both structural and non-structural LWAs can be produced using a rotary kiln. ► The resulted LWAs meet ...the requirements of ASTM C330. ► The properties of concrete made from the LWA comply with the requirements of structural lightweight concrete.
This study assesses the possible use of water treatment sludge for the production of lightweight aggregate (LWA), and focuses on the engineering properties of concrete made from this LWA. The experiments in this study involve 10 sludges from ten water treatment plants in Taiwan. All sludges can be used to manufacture LWAs in the laboratory, and exhibit a particle density (ρa) of 0.65–2.05g/cm3 and water absorption of 0.5–15%. Five sludges are suitable for manufacturing both structural LWA (ρa=1.2–1.8g/cm3) and non-structural LWA (ρa<1.0g/cm3), and the other five sludges are only suitable for manufacturing structural LWA. The sludge collected from the Hsing-Zu plant was successfully used to produce both structural and non-structural LWA on a large scale using a commercial rotary kiln. The resulting aggregates possessed a particle density of 1.35g/cm3 or 0.98g/cm3 and a bulk density of 726kg/m3 or 518kg/m3 for the structural LWA and non-structural LWA, respectively. The structural LWA meets the ASTM C330 requirements, with a bulk density less than 880kg/m3 for light coarse aggregate, and is a suitable LWA for structural concrete. The engineering properties of the concrete made from the structural LWA comply with the requirements of structural lightweight concrete.
Arterial calcification is a key pathologic component of vascular diseases such as atherosclerosis, coronary artery disease, and peripheral vascular disease. A hallmark of this pathological process is ...the phenotypic transition of vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMCs) to osteoblast-like cells. Several studies have demonstrated that microRNAs (miRNAs) regulate osteoblast differentiation, but it is unclear whether miRNAs also regulate VSMC-mediated arterial calcification. In the present study, we sought to characterize the role of miR-133a in regulating VSMC-mediated arterial calcification. Northern blotting analysis of VSMCs treated with β-glycerophosphate demonstrated that miR-133a was significantly decreased during osteogenic differentiation. Overexpression of miR-133a inhibited VSMC transdifferentiation into osteoblast-like cells as evidenced by a decrease in alkaline phosphatase activity, osteocalcin secretion, Runx2 expression, and mineralized nodule formation. Conversely, the knockdown of miR-133a using an miR-133a inhibitor promoted osteogenic differentiation of VSMCs by increasing alkaline phosphatase activity, osteocalcin secretion, and Runx2 expression. Runx2 was identified as a direct target of miR-133a by a cotransfection experiment in VSMCs with luciferase reporter plasmids containing wild-type or mutant 3′-untranslated region sequences of Runx2. Furthermore, the pro-osteogenic effects of miR-133a inhibitor were abrogated in Runx2-knockdown cells, and the inhibition of osteogenic differentiation by pre–miR-133a was reversed by overexpression of Runx2, providing functional evidence that the effects of miR-133a in osteogenic differentiation were mediated by targeting Runx2. These results demonstrate that miR-133a is a key negative regulator of the osteogenic differentiation of VSMCs.
•M1 macrophage markers is elevated in human OA than in normal.•IL-17 facilitates MCP-1-dependent M1 macrophage polarization.•IL-17 enhances MCP-1 synthesis and promotes monocyte migration.•IL-17 ...activates the JAK and STAT3 signaling cascades.
Osteoarthritis (OA) is a low-grade inflammatory joint illness in which monocytes migrate and infiltrate synovial tissue, differentiating into the pro-inflammatory M1 macrophage phenotype. IL-17 is a proinflammatory mediator principally generated by Th17 cells, which is elevated in OA patients; nevertheless, investigators have yet to elucidate the function of IL-17 in M1 polarization during OA development. Our analysis of clinical tissues and results from the open online dataset discovered that the level of M1 macrophage markers is elevated in human OA tissue samples than in normal tissue. High-throughput screening demonstrated that MCP-1 is a potential candidate factor after IL-17 treatment in OA synovial fibroblasts (OASFs). Immunohistochemistry data revealed that the level of MCP-1 is higher in humans and mice with OA than in normal tissues. IL-17 stimulation facilitates MCP-1-dependent macrophage polarization to the M1 phenotype. It also appears that IL-17 enhances MCP-1 synthesis in human OASFs, enhancing monocyte migration via the JAK and STAT3 signaling cascades. Our findings indicate the IL-17/MCP-1 axis as a novel strategy for the remedy of OA.
Areca nut has been evaluated as a group I carcinogen to humans. However, the exact compounds of areca nut causing oral cancer remain unproven. Previous findings from our lab revealed that arecoline ...N‐oxide (ANO), a metabolite of arecoline, exhibits an oral fibrotic effect in immune‐deficient NOD/SCID mice. The aim of this study is to investigate the oral potentially malignant disorders (OPMD) inductive activity between areca‐alkaloid arecoline and its metabolite ANO in C57BL/6 mice. Our findings show that ANO showed higher activity in inducing hyperplasia with leukoplakia and collagen deposition in C57BL/6 mice compared with the arecoline treated groups. Importantly, immunohistochemical studies showed significant upregulation of NOTCH1, HES1, FAT1, PCNA, and Ki67 expressions in the pathological hyperplastic part. In addition, in vitro studies showed that upregulation of NOTCH1 and FAT1 expressions in ANO treated HGF‐1 and DOK cell models. We found that NOTCH1 regulates TP53 expression from NOTCH1 knockdown oral cancer cells. The DNA damage was significantly increased after arecoline and ANO treatment. Further, we found that arecoline‐induced H2AX expression was regulated by FMO3. Altogether, our findings show that ANO exhibited higher toxicity in OPMD activity and play a significant role in the induction of areca nut mediated oral tumorigenesis.
ANO accelerates somatic mutation of NOTCH1 and FAT1 expression in the OSCC development.
Low impact development (LID) is a common approach to storm water management aimed at mitigating the impact of flooding in urban areas. Most previous studies on this topic focused solely on the ...qualitative assessment of urban resilience. The lack of operational or quantitative resilience indicators has made it difficult to elucidate the degree to which LID affects resilience to flooding. This study established a quantitative flood resilience index (FRI) to assess the resilience of specific locations to flooding. We then used a 3Di hydrodynamic model to simulate time‐variant inundation conditions under an extreme weather event (799 mm in 72 h) in Tainan, Taiwan. Physical and socioeconomic factors were identified as the important factors in calculating the FRI in areas affected by LID. Our results revealed that LID can reduce inundation area and depth during short‐duration (sub‐daily) rainfall events; however, its effectiveness in reducing the effects of flooding during long‐duration (>1 day) events is negligible. Nonetheless, LID could enhance urban resilience to flooding by reducing the duration of flooding events and thereby making it possible to initiate recovery efforts earlier.
Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) has been widely prevalent among older men (aged ≥50 years old) in Sichuan Province. The study aimed to discover associated factors with the new HIV infection in ...older men, and provide a scientific basis for the prevention and control of acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) in this group. A cross-sectional survey study of newly reported HIV/AIDS and general male residents aged 50 years and older was conducted between April and June 2019, with a resample of respondents to identify cases and controls, followed by a case–control study. Logistic regression was applied to analyse the association between the selected factors and new HIV infection among older men. At last, 242 cases and 968 controls were included. The results of multiple logistic regression suggested that many factors including living alone/concentrated (OR 1.56, 95% CI 1.20–2.04, P = 0.001), have a history of migrant worker (OR 2.10, 95% CI 1.61–2.73, P < 0.001), have commercial sexual behaviour (OR 1.71, 95% CI 1.32–2.22, P < 0.001), married (OR 0.48, 95% CI 0.37–0.64, P < 0.001), have a history of HIV antibody testing (OR 0.73, 95% CI 0.56–0.96, P = 0.026), HIV-related knowledge (OR 0.55, 95% CI 0.42–0.72, P < 0.001) were associated with new HIV infection among older men. The present study revealed some potential risky/protective factors altogether. The results highlighted the direction of HIV/AIDS prevention and control among older men, and it is a social issue that requires the joint participation of the whole society.
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