A Convolutional Neural Network with Parallel Multi-Scale Spatial Pooling to Detect Temporal Changes in SAR Images

In synthetic aperture radar (SAR) image change detection, it is quite challenging to exploit the changing information from the noisy difference image subject to the speckle. In this paper, we propose a multi-scale spatial pooling (MSSP) network to exploit the changed information from the noisy difference image. Being different from the traditional convolutional network with only mono-scale pooling kernels, in the proposed method, multi-scale pooling kernels are equipped in a convolutional network to exploit the spatial context information on changed regions from the difference image. Furthermore, to verify the generalization of the proposed method, we apply our proposed method to the cross-dataset bitemporal SAR image change detection, where the MSSP network (MSSP-Net) is trained on a dataset and then applied to an unknown testing dataset. We compare the proposed method with other state-of-arts and the comparisons are performed on four challenging datasets of bitemporal SAR images. Experimental results demonstrate that our proposed method obtains comparable results with S-PCA-Net on YR-A and YR-B dataset and outperforms other state-of-art methods, especially on the Sendai-A and Sendai-B datasets with more complex scenes. More important, MSSP-Net is more efficient than S-PCA-Net and convolutional neural networks (CNN) with less executing time in both training and testing phases

A Survey of Deep Learning-Based Object Detection

Object detection is one of the most important and challenging branches of computer vision, which has been widely applied in peoples life, such as monitoring security, autonomous driving and so on, with the purpose of locating instances of semantic objects of a certain class. With the rapid development of deep learning networks for detection tasks, the performance of object detectors has been greatly improved. In order to understand the main development status of object detection pipeline, thoroughly and deeply, in this survey, we first analyze the methods of existing typical detection models and describe the benchmark datasets. Afterwards and primarily, we provide a comprehensive overview of a variety of object detection methods in a systematic manner, covering the one-stage and two-stage detectors. Moreover, we list the traditional and new applications. Some representative branches of object detection are analyzed as well. Finally, we discuss the architecture of exploiting these object detection methods to build an effective and efficient system and point out a set of development trends to better follow the state-of-the-art algorithms and further research.Comment: 30 pages,12 figure

An Orthogonal Learning Differential Evolution Algorithm for Remote Sensing Image Registration

We introduce an area-based method for remote sensing image registration. We use orthogonal learning differential evolution algorithm to optimize the similarity metric between the reference image and the target image. Many local and global methods have been used to achieve the optimal similarity metric in the last few years. Because remote sensing images are usually influenced by large distortions and high noise, local methods will fail in some cases. For this reason, global methods are often required. The orthogonal learning (OL) strategy is efficient when searching in complex problem spaces. In addition, it can discover more useful information via orthogonal experimental design (OED). Differential evolution (DE) is a heuristic algorithm. It has shown to be efficient in solving the remote sensing image registration problem. So orthogonal learning differential evolution algorithm (OLDE) is efficient for many optimization problems. The OLDE method uses the OL strategy to guide the DE algorithm to discover more useful information. Experiments show that the OLDE method is more robust and efficient for registering remote sensing images

Development of Mass Spectrometric Strategies for Lipid Characterization and Mapping

Lipids are a group of biomolecules which play crucial roles in many biological functions such as cell membrane construction, energy storage, and signal transduction. The aberrant metabolism of lipids is involved in the pathogenesis of many human diseases. The study of lipid structures and their spatial distributions in tissue samples is of great importance to describe lipid metabolism, discover disease biomarkers and understand disease mechanism. Lipids display remarkable structural diversity, which is caused by many factors such as variable acyl chain lengths, unsaturation levels, substitutional positions and geometries. These factors allow the existence of various lipid isomers, which results in a significant challenge of accurate and rapid lipid structural identification. High resolution mass spectrometry (MS) coupled with tandem MS can readily differentiate chain length isomers and head group isomers. However, the structural differences between isomers can be very subtle, although they have dramatically different biochemical consequences, and cannot be directly identified through conventional MS. To this end, the first project in the thesis describes the development of a mass spectrometric strategy that uses an alternating current to initiate i) electrospray (ES) for mass spectrometric analysis, and ii) electro-epoxidation of double bonds in unsaturated lipids when positive voltage is applied to the electrode. The formed epoxides can generate diagnostic fragments in tandem MS to locate double bonds and can be detected in both positive and negative ion modes. The feasibility of this method has been illustrated using a lipid mixture with both positively-charged and negatively-charged lipids. The results show the successful identification of over 30 different lipid isomers in the lipid extracts of a mouse brain. A sufficient characterization of lipids in a tissue sample requires not only structural identification but also their spatial distribution. The classic bulk “bind and grind” sample preparation for MS analysis homogenizes the lipids in tissue samples, and loses the spatial information of lipids in tissues. In the second project, desorption electrospray ionization-mass spectrometry imaging (DESI-MSI) was used to spatially map lipids in the mouse brain from an alcoholism model. Assisted by partial least squares-discriminant analysis (PLS-DA), a potential lipid biomarker at m/z 841.5 (tentatively identified as triacylglycerol 51:3) has been identified in dorsal striatum that shows lower intensity in the alcoholism mouse group compared with the normal one. Lipids with low abundance or low ionization efficiency may play an important role in biological process, while the lack of sensitive and specific methods limits the studies of them. The third project in the thesis develops a derivatization method for the detection of 2-arachidonoylglycerol (2-AG) using phenylboronic acid in nano-electrospray ionization-MS analysis. 2-AG is an important lipid in endocannabinoid system with low abundance and low ionization efficiency. The charge tag formed by reacting with phenylboronic acid can be added to cis-diol of 2-AG, which facilitates its mass analysis. Additionally, the specificity has been largely improved compared to protonation method, which is shown by the differentiation of 2-AG in tissue samples from its isomers in the background

Multifocal Toric Intraocular Lens for Traumatic Cataract in a Child

A child suffering from traumatic cataract and corneal astigmatism of 2.14 D had a phacoemulsification operation and implantation of a ReSTOR Toric intraocular lens (IOL) to correct the astigmatism. The primary outcome measurements were the uncorrected distance visual acuity (UDVA), uncorrected near vision at 40 cm, intraocular pressure, spherical equivalent refraction, residual astigmatism, corneal astigmatism, presence of unusual optical phenomena, and use of spectacles. At 7 months postoperatively, UDVA was maintained between 16/20 and 24/20, near vision was between J1 and J3, residual spherical refraction was 0–0.37 D, and residual refractive cylinder was between 0 and 0.67 D. A multifocal toric IOL can provide the possibility of satisfactory vision for both distant and near conditions without the use of spectacles to meet children’s needs when studying and doing sports. Additionally, binocular vision can be reconstructed. This intervention, therefore, seems to be a satisfactory alternative

Effects of the Photovoltaic Fishery Breeding on Hepatopancreas and Gonad Odor of Chinese Mitten Crab (Eriocheir sinensis)

The photovoltaic fishery breeding is a new environmentally friendly breeding method that combines pond aquaculture and photovoltaic power generation. Combining Chinese mitten crab (Eriocheir sinensis) farming with photovoltaic power generation is a new attempt to utilize resources comprehensively. However, there is no research on the effect of photovoltaic fishery breeding on the odor formation of E. sinensis. In this study, we compared the differences in basic nutrition composition, sensory evaluation, and odor quality of E. sinensis cultured in photovoltaic fishery breeding (PM) and common pond breeding (CM) environments. Two kinds of female crabs under PM or CM had their hepatopancreas and gonads evaluated by sensory analysis, as well as their tissue indices determination, proximate composition, electronic nose, and content of volatile compounds were evaluated. The flavor-active substances (odor activity value, OAV > 0.1) generated by the two breeding methods were evaluated. The results of artificial sensory evaluation and volatile compounds determination were analyzed by partial least squares (PLS) to comprehensively evaluate the odor characteristics of the hepatopancreas and gonads of Chinese mitten crab. The results of tissue indices and proximate composition showed that the gonads index of female crab was increased by the photovoltaic fishery breeding mode (P 0.05). Nonetheless, the PM group's 2-ethylfuran and D-limonene contents were significantly higher than those in the CM group (P < 0.05). The grassy odor in the PM group was stronger in relation to the CM group, and the trimethylamine content in the CM group was 17 times higher than that in the PM group. Sulfur-containing compounds (dimethyl disulfide and thiophene) were detected in the CM group, and the odorous substances in this group were more abundant than those of the PM group, reflecting the inferior odor quality of the CM group. Several different flavor active substances were detected in hepatopancreas (11) and gonads (10) of female crabs under the two breeding methods, respectively. In the hepatopancreas, the OAV of (E)-2-octenal, octenal, (E)-2-nonenal, nonanal, decanal, and 2-pentylpyridine of the PM group was greater than 1, while the CM group's OAV of only (E)-2-nonenal and nonanal was greater than 1. The OAV of (E)-2-nonenal and nonanal was greater than 1 in gonads of the PM group. In the CM gonads, the OAV of hexanal, nonanal, and decanal was greater than 1. Overall, the OAV content was higher than 1 in the hepatopancreas in the PM group, which was higher than that in the CM group. In the gonads, the OAV content was greater than 1 for the CM group, revealing a fishy and ammoniacal odor that resulted in an overall unpleasant odor. PLS analysis showed a strong correlation between the PM group and grassy and fishy odor. The volatiles associated with hepatopancreas in the PM group were octanal, (E)-2-octenal, 2-decanone, 1-octen-3-ol, 2-pentyl furan, among others, while few volatiles associated with hepatopancreas were found in the CM group. Compounds strongly correlated with the CM group gonads included nonanal, hexanal, and other fishy odor aldehydes, trimethylamine, and 2-ethylfuran. The gonads' odor in the CM group was higher than in the PM group. The photovoltaic fishery breeding method can improve the grassy and fatty odors in the hepatopancreas, reduce the content of odor substances in the gonads, and promote the odor quality of female E. sinensis. This study provides a theoretical basis for optimizing and popularizing the photovoltaic fishery breeding method

Interfacial Electro-Epoxidation in Electrospray Ionization Mass Spectrometry for Simultaneous Analysis of Negatively and Positively Charged Unsaturated Glycerophospholipids

In this study, we developed an AC-induced interfacial electro-epoxidation reaction for localization of double-bonds in nega-tively and positively charged forms of lipids simultaneously. An AC voltage plays multiple roles in this method, including initiation of the electrochemical epoxidation of double-bonds in both charge states of lipids, and protonation and deprotona-tion of lipid for detection in both ion modes. The advantages of simultaneous detection of negatively changed and positively charged unsaturated lipids, voltage-controlled electrochemical derivatization, and the low sample consumption allow its wide applications in a broad range of lipid-related research

Manufacturer&rsquo;s Encroachment and Carbon Emission Reduction Decisions Considering Cap-and-Trade Regulation and Consumers&rsquo; Low-Carbon Preference

Carbon emission reduction and achieving carbon neutrality has become an inevitable trend in the sustainable development era. We investigate the manufacturer&rsquo;s encroachment and carbon emission reduction decisions considering government cap-and-trade regulations and consumers&rsquo; low-carbon preference. The equilibrium decisions for the four scenarios are analytically obtained and compared based using the Stackelberg game. A comparison with and without cap-and-trade regulation under two encroachment decisions regarding member&rsquo;s profits and carbon emission reduction levels are conducted. It is shown that the encroachment decision is always advantageous for the manufacturer if the government decides not to implement cap-and-trade regulation, and the retailer always loses profit. Moreover, if the carbon quota is sufficient, cap-and-trade regulation benefits the manufacturer. Otherwise, the manufacturer&rsquo;s encroachment decision depends on the appropriate initial unit amount of carbon emission and unit carbon price. The retailer&rsquo;s profit may not always be hurt by the manufacturer&rsquo;s encroachment with cap-and-trade regulation; unless the unit carbon price exceeds a certain threshold, a higher consumer&rsquo;s low-carbon preference in the encroachment scenario reduces more carbon emissions than in the no-encroachment scenario for the manufacturer. Further, the rising platform commission rate causes the platform profit to increase first and then decrease; the platform profit will slightly decrease if both products become more substitutes