Research on Image Retrieval Optimization Based on Eye Movement Experiment Data

Satisfying a user's actual underlying needs in the image retrieval process is a difficult challenge facing image retrieval technology. The aim of this study is to improve the performance of a retrieval system and provide users with optimized search results using the feedback of eye movement. We analyzed the eye movement signals of the user’s image retrieval process from cognitive and mathematical perspectives. Data collected for 25 designers in eye tracking experiments were used to train and evaluate the model. In statistical analysis, eight eye movement features were statistically significantly different between selected and unselected groups of images (p < 0.05). An optimal selection of input features resulted in overall accuracy of the support vector machine prediction model of 87.16%. Judging the user’s requirements in the image retrieval process through eye movement behaviors was shown to be effective

A weapon to fight against pervasive Omicron: systematic actions transiting to pre-COVID normal

The Coronavirus Disease-2019 (COVID-19) pandemic is not just a health crisis but also a social crisis. Confronted with the resurgence of variants with massive infections, the triggered activities from personal needs may promote the spread, which should be considered in risk management. Meanwhile, it is important to ensure that the policy responses on citizen life to a lower level. In the face of Omicron mutations, we need to sum up the control experience accumulated, adapting strategies in the dynamic coevolution process while balancing life resumption and pandemic control, to meet challenges of future crises. We collected 46 cases occurring between 2021 and 2022, mainly from China, but also including five relevant cases from other countries around the world. Based on case studies, we combine micro-view individual needs/behaviors with macro-view management measures linking Maslow’s hierarchy of needs with the transmission chain of Omicron clusters. The proposed loophole chain could help identify both individual and management loopholes in the spread of the virus. The systematic actions that were taken have effectively combated these ubiquitous vulnerabilities at lower costs and lesser time. In the dynamic coevolution process, the Chinese government has made effective and more socially acceptable prevention policies while meeting the divergent needs of the entire society at the minimum costs. Systematic actions do help maintain the balance between individuals’ satisfaction and pandemic containment. This implies that risk management policies should reasonably consider individual needs and improve the cooperation of various stakeholders with targeted flexible measures, securing both public health and life resumption

SoccerNet 2023 Challenges Results

peer reviewedThe SoccerNet 2023 challenges were the third annual video understanding challenges organized by the SoccerNet team. For this third edition, the challenges were composed of seven vision-based tasks split into three main themes. The first theme, broadcast video understanding, is composed of three high-level tasks related to describing events occurring in the video broadcasts: (1) action spotting, focusing on retrieving all timestamps related to global actions in soccer, (2) ball action spotting, focusing on retrieving all timestamps related to the soccer ball change of state, and (3) dense video captioning, focusing on describing the broadcast with natural language and anchored timestamps. The second theme, field understanding, relates to the single task of (4) camera calibration, focusing on retrieving the intrinsic and extrinsic camera parameters from images. The third and last theme, player understanding, is composed of three low-level tasks related to extracting information about the players: (5) re-identification, focusing on retrieving the same players across multiple views, (6) multiple object tracking, focusing on tracking players and the ball through unedited video streams, and (7) jersey number recognition, focusing on recognizing the jersey number of players from tracklets. Compared to the previous editions of the SoccerNet challenges, tasks (2-3-7) are novel, including new annotations and data, task (4) was enhanced with more data and annotations, and task (6) now focuses on end-to-end approaches. More information on the tasks, challenges, and leaderboards are available on https://www.soccer-net.org. Baselines and development kits can be found on https://github.com/SoccerNet

The Main Physicochemical Characteristics and Nutrient Composition during Fruit Ripening of <i>Stauntonia obovatifoliola</i> Subsp. <i>Urophylla</i> (Lardizabalaceae)

Stauntonia obovatifoliola Hayata subsp. urophylla is a novel edible and healthy fruit in China, commonly known as “Jiuyuehuang” (September yellow). The fully ripe fruit of S. obovatifoliola subsp. urophylla has a soft fruit pulp texture, golden flesh, and sweet flavor which is very popular with the locals. In this paper, we have investigated the fruit appearance quality, physiochemical quality, and nutritional quality of S. obovatifoliola subsp. urophylla that was harvested at six stages (S1: 60 DAFB, S2: 90 DAFB, S3: 130 DAFB, S4: 160 DAFB, S5: 190 DAFB, S6: 205 DAFB). An increase in fruit size (including single fruit weight, fruit length, and fruit diameter) was related to the ripeness stage of fruit development. The total soluble solids, firmness, dry matter, sugar and starch showed remarkable changes as the fruit approached ripening (S5–S6 stage). The main sugar components in the fruit were fructose, glucose, and maltose. The contents of fructose, glucose, and total sugars in S. obovatifoliola subsp. urophylla fruit progressively increased from the S1 to the S6 stage while increasing sharply from the S4 to the S5 stage. As for the content of maltose and starch, they both showed an increasing trend from the S1 to the S4 stage but decreased sharply at the S5 stage. The vitamin B, vitamin C, total phenolics, total flavonoids, and amino acid levels showed an overall downward trend during fruit development. To our knowledge, this is the first study to compare the phytochemical characteristics, nutrient composition, and antioxidant content during the different fruit development stages. The results of this study may provide a scientific basis for clarifying the growth and development characteristics of S. obovatifoliola subsp. urophylla fruit and the further utilization of these excellent medicinal and edible germplasm resources

Physicochemical Characteristics and Nutritional Composition during Fruit Ripening of <i>Akebia trifoliata</i> (Lardizabalaceae)

Akebia trifoliata is a high-value medicinal and edible fruit crop in China, and it has begun to be widely cultivated as a new fruit crop in many areas of China. Its fruits crack longitudinally when fully ripe and should be harvested before fruit cracking. Physicochemical characteristics and nutritional composition of the ripening process are prerequisites to establishing proper harvest maturity windows. In the current study, we have investigated the fruit quality characteristics of two A. trifoliata clonal lines (‘Luqing’ and ‘Luyu’) that were harvested at four time points (S1: 120 days after full bloom (DAFB), S2: 134 DAFB, S3: 148 DAFB, S4: 155 DAFB). An increase in fruit size (fruit weight, fruit length, and fruit diameter) was associated with delayed harvest maturity. The firmness of A. trifoliata fruit exhibited a decreasing trend with delaying the harvest stage. In particular, the firmness decreased sharply from S2 to S3 stage. The TSS, fructose, and glucose content in A. trifoliata fruit continuously increased from the S1 to S4 stage and accumulated sharply from S2 to S3 stage. However, the sucrose and starch content showed an increasing trend from the S1 to S2 stage but declined sharply in the S3 or S4 stage. Ascorbic acid progressively increased with the advancement of A. trifoliata maturity stages, while total phenolics and total flavonoids levels declined with fruit ripening. Considering the results of all quality parameters mentioned above, the A. trifoliata fruit harvested at the S3 maturity stage was the ideal harvest maturity for long-distance transportation and higher consumer acceptability before fruit cracking. Our research reveals the dynamic changes in physicochemical characteristics and nutritional composition during fruit ripening of A. trifoliata. Results in this study reflect the importance of maturity stages for fruit quality and provide basic information for optimal harvest management of A. trifoliata

Managing Risks Arising from Conservation Complexities of Forests: Insights from China&rsquo;s &ldquo;Chief Scheme&rdquo; Practice

Forests play a critical role in combating climate change. It takes China from timber production to ecosystem rehabilitation and then to the future of carbon neutrality. Even though China&rsquo;s forestry has made great achievements, there remain many problems with its sustainable management, especially the difficult balance between rural livelihood and forest conservation. Under these circumstances, the forest chief scheme was transformed from local trials to a national mechanism. This article seeks to analyze the origin and evolution of the &ldquo;forest chief&rdquo; scheme and the complexities and challenges related to China&rsquo;s sustainable forestry development. Taking the risk governance framework, this study provides a systematic overview of the functioning of the &ldquo;forest chiefs&rdquo; element integral to sustainable governance. It offers innovative ways of top-down participation in the specific context by integrating the adaptive risk governance approach, thereby provoking critical thinking about sustainable forest governance

Quantification of Gly m 5.0101 in Soybean and Soy Products by Liquid Chromatography-Tandem Mass Spectrometry

Gly m 5.0101, the alpha subunit of &beta;-conglycinin, is one of the major allergens found in soybeans that has been identified as causing an allergic reaction. Here, we developed a quantification method of Gly m 5.0101 with multiple reaction monitoring using the synthetic peptide 194NPFLFGSNR202 as the external standard. Firstly, the ground soybean was defatted and extracted with a protein extraction buffer. Then the crude extract was on-filter digested by trypsin and analyzed by liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry. The selected peptide exhibited a detection limit of 0.48 ng/mL and a linear relationship in a concentration range from 1.6 to 500 ng/mL (r2 &gt; 0.99). The developed method was successfully applied to quantify the Gly m 5.0101 level in dozens of soybean varieties from different sources and soybean products derived from different processing techniques. The developed method could be used to further analyze &beta;-conglycinin in soybean seeds combined with sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE) analysis

Electrospinning Nanoparticles-Based Materials Interfaces for Sensor Applications

Electrospinning is a facile technique to fabricate nanofibrous materials with adjustable structure, property, and functions. Electrospun materials have exhibited wide applications in the fields of materials science, biomedicine, tissue engineering, energy storage, environmental science, sensing, and others. In this review, we present recent advance in the fabrication of nanoparticles (NPs)-based materials interfaces through electrospinning technique and their applications for high-performance sensors. To achieve this aim, first the strategies for fabricating various materials interfaces through electrospinning NPs, such as metallic, oxide, alloy/metal oxide, and carbon NPs, are demonstrated and discussed, and then the sensor applications of the fabricated NPs-based materials interfaces in electrochemical, electric, fluorescent, colorimetric, surface-enhanced Raman scattering, photoelectric, and chemoresistance-based sensing and detection are presented and discussed in detail. We believe that this study will be helpful for readers to understand the fabrication of functional materials interfaces by electrospinning, and at the same time will promote the design and fabrication of electrospun nano/micro-devices for wider applications in bioanalysis and label-free sensors

Huaier aqueous extract inhibits ovarian cancer cell motility via the AKT/GSK3β/β-catenin pathway.

Traditional Chinese medicine has gained popularity due to its ability to kill tumor cells. Recently, the apoptotic and anti-angiogenic effects of Trametes robiniophila murr (Huaier) have been investigated. The aim of this study was to investigate its effect on cell mobility and tumor growth in ovarian cancer. Cell viability and motility were measured using SRB, scratch and migration assays. Cell apoptosis was analysed by annexin V/PI staining. Using a reverse-phase protein array (RPPA) assay, we analyzed the levels of 153 proteins and/or phosphorylations in Huaier-treated and untreated cells. Huaier inhibited cell viability and induced both early and late apoptosis in SKOV3, SKOV3.ip1 and Hey cells in a time- and dose-dependent manner. Cell invasiveness and migration were also suppressed significantly. The RPPA results showed significant differences (of at least 30%; P <0.05) in the levels of 7 molecules in SKOV3 cells and 10 in SKOV3.ip1 cells between the untreated and treated cells. Most of the molecules identified play roles in cell proliferation, apoptosis or cell adhesion/invasion. Western blot analysis further validated that Huaier treatment resulted in decreased AKT phosphorylation, enhanced expression of total GSK3β, inhibition of the phosphorylation of GSK3β on S9, reduction of both cytoplasmic β-catenin expression and nuclear β-catenin translocation, and transcriptional repression of several Wnt/β-catenin target genes (DIXDC1, LRP6, WNT5A, and cyclin D1). After knocking down GSK3β, β-catenin expression could not be inhibited by Huaier. Finally, Huaier inhibited the growth of ovarian tumor xenografts in vivo. These studies indicate that Huaier inhibits tumor cell mobility in ovarian cancer via the AKT/GSK3β/β-catenin signaling pathway