Illumination Controllable Dehazing Network based on Unsupervised Retinex Embedding

On the one hand, the dehazing task is an illposedness problem, which means that no unique solution exists. On the other hand, the dehazing task should take into account the subjective factor, which is to give the user selectable dehazed images rather than a single result. Therefore, this paper proposes a multi-output dehazing network by introducing illumination controllable ability, called IC-Dehazing. The proposed IC-Dehazing can change the illumination intensity by adjusting the factor of the illumination controllable module, which is realized based on the interpretable Retinex theory. Moreover, the backbone dehazing network of IC-Dehazing consists of a Transformer with double decoders for high-quality image restoration. Further, the prior-based loss function and unsupervised training strategy enable IC-Dehazing to complete the parameter learning process without the need for paired data. To demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed IC-Dehazing, quantitative and qualitative experiments are conducted on image dehazing, semantic segmentation, and object detection tasks. Code is available at https://github.com/Xiaofeng-life/ICDehazing

Self-controlled growth of highly uniform Ge/Si hut wires for scalable qubit devices

Semiconductor nanowires have been playing a crucial role in the development of nanoscale devices for the realization of spin qubits, Majorana fermions, single photon emitters, nanoprocessors, etc. The monolithic growth of site-controlled nanowires is a prerequisite towards the next generation of devices that will require addressability and scalability. Here, combining top-down nanofabrication and bottom-up self-assembly, we report on the growth of Ge wires on pre-patterned Si (001) substrates with controllable position, distance, length and structure. This is achieved by a novel growth process which uses a SiGe strain-relaxation template and can be generalized to other material combinations. Transport measurements show an electrically tunable spin-orbit coupling, with a spin-orbit length similar to that of III-V materials. Also, capacitive coupling between closely spaced wires is observed, which underlines their potential as a host for implementing two qubit gates. The reported results open a path towards scalable qubit devices with Si compatibility

XTH31, Encoding an in Vitro XEH/XET-Active Enzyme, Regulates Aluminum Sensitivity by Modulating in Vivo XET Action, Cell Wall Xyloglucan Content, and Aluminum Binding Capacity in Arabidopsis

Xyloglucan endohydrolase (XEH) and xyloglucan endotransglucosylase (XET) activities, encoded by xyloglucan endotransglucosylase-hydrolase (XTH) genes, are involved in cell wall extension by cutting or cutting and rejoining xyloglucan chains, respectively. However, the physiological significance of this biochemical activity remains incompletely understood. Here, we find that an XTH31 T-DNA insertion mutant, xth31, is more Al resistant than the wild type. XTH31 is bound to the plasma membrane and the encoding gene is expressed in the root elongation zone and in nascent leaves, suggesting a role in cell expansion. XTH31 transcript accumulation is strongly downregulated by Al treatment. XTH31 expression in yeast yields a protein with an in vitro XEH:XET activity ratio of >5000:1. xth31 accumulates significantly less Al in the root apex and cell wall, shows remarkably lower in vivo XET action and extractable XET activity, has a lower xyloglucan content, and exhibits slower elongation. An exogenous supply of xyloglucan significantly ameliorates Al toxicity by reducing Al accumulation in the roots, owing to the formation of an Al-xyloglucan complex in the medium, as verified by an obvious change in chemical shift of (27)Al-NMR. Taken together, the data indicate that XTH31 affects Al sensitivity by modulating cell wall xyloglucan content and Al binding capacity

28-Day Oral Chronic Toxicity Study of Arctigenin in Rats

Arctium lappa (burdock) is the most popular daily edible vegetable in China and Japan because of its general health tonic effects. Previous studies focused on the beneficial role of Arctigenin but neglected its potential side-effects and toxicities. In the present study, the sub-chronic toxicity profile of Arctigenin following 28 days of consecutive exposure was investigated in rats. The results showed that during the drug exposure period, Arctigenin-12 mg/kg administration resulted in focal necrosis and lymphocytes infiltration of heart ventricular septal muscle cells. In the kidney cortical zone, the renal tubular epithelial cells were swollen, mineralized, and lymphocyte infiltrated. In the liver, the partial hepatocyte cytoplasm showed vacuolation and fatty changes, focal necrosis, and interstitial lymphocyte infiltration. In the rats that underwent 36 mg/kg/day administration, there was bilateral testis and epididymis atrophy. In the lung and primary bronchus, erythrocytes and edema fluid were observed. Changes of proestrus or estrus were observed in the uterus, cervix, and vagina intimal epithelial cells. Lymphocytic focal infiltration occurred in the prostate mesenchyme. The high dosage of Arctigenin only decreased the body weight at day 4. At the end of the recovery period, histopathological changes were irreversible, even after withdrawal of the drug for 28 days. Focal necrosis still existed in the heart ventricular septal muscle cells and hepatocytes. Lymphocyte infiltrations were observed in the heart, renal cortex, hepatocyte, and pancreas exocrine gland. Meanwhile, atrophy occurred in the testicles and pancreas. In addition, in the Arctigenin-12 mg/kg group, creatinine (CREA) and brain weight were both significantly increased. The toxicokinetical study demonstrated that Arctigenin accumulated in the organs of rats. The food consumption, hematological, and biochemical parameters were not associated with the above results. These contradictory results might result from the lesions induced by Arctigenin, which were not sufficiently serious to change the parameters. These results suggest that Arctium lappa should be consumed daily with caution because of the potential toxicity induced by Arctigenin. According to all results, the lowest observed adverse effect level (LOAEL) was induced by 12 mg/kg daily exposure to Arctigenin, and the No-observed-adverse-effect-level (NOAEL) should be lower than 12 mg/kg

Luteolin Ameliorates Hypertensive Vascular Remodeling through Inhibiting the Proliferation and Migration of Vascular Smooth Muscle Cells

Objectives. Preliminary researches showed that luteolin was used to treat hypertension. However, it is still unclear whether luteolin has effect on the hypertensive complication such as vascular remodeling. The present study was designed to investigate the effect of luteolin on the hypertensive vascular remodeling and its molecular mechanism. Method and Results. We evaluated the effect of luteolin on aorta thickening of hypertension in spontaneous hypertensive rats (SHRs) and found that luteolin could significantly decrease the blood pressure and media thickness of aorta in vivo. Luteolin could inhibit angiotensin II- (Ang II-) induced proliferation and migration of vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMCs). Dichlorofluorescein diacetate (DCFH-DA) staining result showed that luteolin reduced Ang II-stimulated ROS production in VSMCs. Furthermore, western blot and gelatin zymography results showed that luteolin treatment leaded to a decrease in ERK1/2, p-ERK1/2, p-p38, MMP2, and proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA) protein level. Conclusion. These data support that luteolin can ameliorate hypertensive vascular remodeling by inhibiting the proliferation and migration of Ang II-induced VSMCs. Its mechanism is mediated by the regulation of MAPK signaling pathway and the production of ROS

Magnetic activities and parameters of 43 flare stars in the GWAC archive

In the archive of the Ground Wide Angle Camera (GWAC), we found 43 white light flares from 43 stars, among which, three are sympathetic or homologous flares, and one of them also has a quasi-periodic pulsation with a period of $13.0\pm1.5$ minutes. Among these 43 flare stars, there are 19 new active stars and 41 stars that have available TESS and/or K2 light curves, from which we found 931 stellar flares. We also obtained rotational or orbital periods of 34 GWAC flare stars, of which 33 are less than 5.4 days, and ephemerides of three eclipsing binaries from these light curves. Combining with low resolution spectra from LAMOST and the Xinglong 2.16m telescope, we found that $L_{\rm H\alpha}/L_{\rm bol}$ are in the saturation region in the rotation-activity diagram. From the LAMOST medium-resolution spectrum, we found that Star \#3 (HAT 178-02667) has double H$\alpha$ emissions which imply it is a binary, and two components are both active stars. Thirteen stars have flare frequency distributions (FFDs) from TESS and/or K2 light curves. These FFDs show that the flares detected by GWAC can occur at a frequency of 0.5 to 9.5 yr$^{-1}$. The impact of flares on habitable planets was also studied based on these FFDs, and flares from some GWAC flare stars may produce enough energetic flares to destroy ozone layers, but none can trigger prebiotic chemistry on their habitable planets.Comment: 20 pages, 9 figures, 3 table

Penilaian Kinerja Keuangan Koperasi di Kabupaten Pelalawan

This paper describe development and financial performance of cooperative in District Pelalawan among 2007 - 2008. Studies on primary and secondary cooperative in 12 sub-districts. Method in this stady use performance measuring of productivity, efficiency, growth, liquidity, and solvability of cooperative. Productivity of cooperative in Pelalawan was highly but efficiency still low. Profit and income were highly, even liquidity of cooperative very high, and solvability was good

Optimasi Portofolio Resiko Menggunakan Model Markowitz MVO Dikaitkan dengan Keterbatasan Manusia dalam Memprediksi Masa Depan dalam Perspektif Al-Qur`an

Risk portfolio on modern finance has become increasingly technical, requiring the use of sophisticated mathematical tools in both research and practice. Since companies cannot insure themselves completely against risk, as human incompetence in predicting the future precisely that written in Al-Quran surah Luqman verse 34, they have to manage it to yield an optimal portfolio. The objective here is to minimize the variance among all portfolios, or alternatively, to maximize expected return among all portfolios that has at least a certain expected return. Furthermore, this study focuses on optimizing risk portfolio so called Markowitz MVO (Mean-Variance Optimization). Some theoretical frameworks for analysis are arithmetic mean, geometric mean, variance, covariance, linear programming, and quadratic programming. Moreover, finding a minimum variance portfolio produces a convex quadratic programming, that is minimizing the objective function ðð¥with constraintsð ð 𥠥 ðandð´ð¥ = ð. The outcome of this research is the solution of optimal risk portofolio in some investments that could be finished smoothly using MATLAB R2007b software together with its graphic analysis