Dual adversarial models with cross-coordination consistency constraint for domain adaption in brain tumor segmentation

The brain tumor segmentation task with different domains remains a major challenge because tumors of different grades and severities may show different distributions, limiting the ability of a single segmentation model to label such tumors. Semi-supervised models (e.g., mean teacher) are strong unsupervised domain-adaptation learners. However, one of the main drawbacks of using a mean teacher is that given a large number of iterations, the teacher model weights converge to those of the student model, and any biased and unstable predictions are carried over to the student. In this article, we proposed a novel unsupervised domain-adaptation framework for the brain tumor segmentation task, which uses dual student and adversarial training techniques to effectively tackle domain shift with MR images. In this study, the adversarial strategy and consistency constraint for each student can align the feature representation on the source and target domains. Furthermore, we introduced the cross-coordination constraint for the target domain data to constrain the models to produce more confident predictions. We validated our framework on the cross-subtype and cross-modality tasks in brain tumor segmentation and achieved better performance than the current unsupervised domain-adaptation and semi-supervised frameworks

Corrosion behavior and characteristics of passive films of laser powder bed fusion produced Ti-6Al-4V in dynamic Hank’s solution

The corrosion behavior of laser powder bed fusion produced (L-PBF-produced) titanium alloys involving flowing body fluid is still unclear. Therefore, this work investigates in vitro corrosion behavior and the characteristics of passive films formed on L-PBF-produced Ti–6Al–4V in both static and dynamic Hank’s solutions. Electrochemical measurements, immersion tests, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and scanning electron microscopy were conducted. In comparison to the L-PBF-produced Ti–6Al–4V in static Hank’s solution, the samples showed lower charge transfer resistance and higher passivation current density (anodic current density as well) in dynamic Hank’s solution. Meanwhile, a more apparent deposition of apatite and hydroxyapatite is found on the L-PBF-produced Ti–6Al–4V in dynamic Hank’s solution. Such outcomes mainly result from the enhancement of film/solution interfacial transportation in dynamic Hank’s solution. The dynamic Hank’s solution provides more calcium and phosphate ions to the surface of the passive film and also takes away the dissolved metal ions. Therefore, more salt deposition and a lower-quality passive film are found

Real-Time Segmentation Method of Lightweight Network For Finger Vein Using Embedded Terminal Technique

Because the existing finger vein segmentation networks are too large and not suitable for implementation in mobile terminals, the reduction of the parameters of the lightweight network leads to the reduction of the segmentation index, and the long-running time of deep network on hardware platforms; this paper proposes a lightweight real-time segmentation method for finger veins based on embedded terminal technique. In the preprocessing stage of the algorithm, the data is greatly expanded by randomly selecting the center to obtain sub-blocks on each image of the training set. The network first uses deep separable convolution to greatly reduce the U-Net parameters of a basic network and introduces an attention module to reorder the features to improve network performance, followed by a preliminary lightweight network Dinty-NetV1. Second, the Ghost module is added to the deep separable convolution, and the feature map of the network part is obtained through a cheap operation so that the network is further compressed to obtain Dinty-NetV2. After adding channel shuffle, all the characteristic channels are evenly shuffled and reorganized to obtain Dinty-NetV3. Finally, a study of the filter norm yields the distribution characteristics of the finger vein picture features. By using the geometric median pruning method, the network models for each stage of the algorithm proposed in this paper achieved better segmentation performance and shorter split time after pruning. The overall Dinty-NetV3 model size is only less than 9% of the U-Net and Mult-Adds is less than 2% of the U-Net with the same structure. After testing on two-finger vein datasets SDU-FV and MMCUBV-6000, we confirm that the performance of Dinty-NetV3 surpasses all previously proposed classic compression model algorithms and it is not inferior to more complex and huge networks such as U-Net, DU-Net, and R2U-Net. The proposed algorithm has advantages in terms of time needed to train the network, and we verify its universality using NVIDIA's full range of embedded terminals

Site Selection of Waste-to-Energy (WtE) Plant considering Public Satisfaction by an Extended VIKOR Method

Site selection of waste-to-energy (WtE) plant is critically important in the whole life cycle. Some research has been launched in the WtE plant site selection, but there is still a serious problem called Not In My Back Yard (NIMBY) effect that needs to be solved. To solve the problem, an improved multigroup VIKOR method is proposed to choose the optimal site and compromised sites. In the proposed method, the public satisfaction is fully considered where the public is invited as an evaluation group far more than creating general indicators to represent the public acceptance. First of all, an elaborate criteria system is built to evaluate site options comprehensively and the weights of criteria are identified by Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) method. Then, the interval 2-tuple linguistic information is adopted to assess the ratings for the established criteria. The interval 2-tuple linguistic ordered weighted averaging (ITL-OWA) operator is utilized to aggregate the opinions of evaluation committee while the opinions of the public are aggregated using weighted average operator. Finally, a case from south China which shows the computational procedure and the effectiveness of the proposed method is proved. Last but not least, a sensitivity analysis is conducted by comparing the results with different weights of evaluation group assessments

Upgrading the Water-Soluble Fraction of Bio-oil by Simultaneous Esterification and Acetalation with Online Extraction

Upgrading the water-soluble fraction, which was obtained by water extraction of rice husk fast pyrolysis oil, was investigated with simultaneous esterification and acetalation with online solvent extraction (SEAWOSE) in butanol. It was found that, in comparison to direct esterification and acetalation without extraction, almost all of the acids and aldehydes in the water-soluble fraction can be converted to the corresponding esters, hemiacetals, and acetals by SEAWOSE. With the aid of online extraction, the saccharides could be transformed into the upgraded oil gradually via first hydrolysis into aldehyde derivatives and then acetalation. As a result, the char formation was significantly suppressed. The effect of oxidation and reduction of the water-soluble fraction as pretreatment before SEAWOSE was also investigated. By hydrogen peroxide oxidation, the aldehydes could be first converted into acids and subsequently esterified to esters, consequently without char formation. The upgraded oil was with high oil quality, less than 3% in moisture, higher than 30 MJ/kg in high heating value, and less than 2 mg of KOH/g in acidity

A review of potential factors promoting fish movement in inter-basin water transfers, with emergent patterns from a trait-based risk analysis for a large-scale project in china

Inter-basin water transfers create new pathways between previously disjunct systems and communities. If fish movement occurs, it can lead to invasion or altered regional connectivity patterns, which could induce biotic/genetic homogenisation or synchronisation. Understanding ecological factors promoting movement is critical for predicting potential impacts during project planning, to assess ongoing effects, and to develop mediation strategies. Potential characteristics influencing movement rates were reviewed, including intrinsic traits that increase passive entrainment or active dispersal rates, extrinsic traits of the connected environments and their interactions. In order to examine patterns among these potentially influencing characteristics, a trait-based screening method for movement and invasion risk was developed to analyse linked communities in a database from a large-scale inter-basin water diversion in China. Groups of fishes that scored high in the risk assessment were compared with worldwide examples of entrainment in inter-basin water transfer systems or smaller-scale diversions to examine emergent patterns of shared ecological characteristics. Specific traits that were most often shared in these groups, indicating a higher likelihood of movement in water diversions, include the following: a smaller body size, high adult or larval abundance, migratory behaviour, generalist and pelagic habitat preferences, and a high reproductive output. The synthesis of factors identified in this research can be used to guide future empirical studies to fill knowledge gaps regarding ecological impacts of inter-basin water transfers or other smaller-scale diversions on local communities and ecosystems

Multi-centric clinical study of the effect of intervention time on efficacy of gastroparesis external application prescription treatment of gastrointestinal tumor postsurgical gastroparesis

Objective: This intervention has been shown to be clinically efficacious and safe. The aim of this study was to determine the effect of different intervention times on the efficacy of gastroparesis external application prescription versus placebo for the treatment of gastrointestinal tumor postoperative, postsurgical gastroparesis. Methods: A multicenter, randomized, double-blind, placebo controlled phase III clinical trial was designed to demonstrate superiority and conducted at four grade 3A hospitals in Beijing. Patients diagnosed with gastrointestinal tumor postsurgical gastroparesis and local cold syndrome in the abdomen were enrolled and received conventional treatment (nutritional support, gastrointestinal decompression, and prokinetic medication). Treatment and control groups respectively received gastroparesis external application prescription or placebo acupoint application over a treatment course of 14 days or until the primary efficacy endpoint (clinical efficiency) was achieved. Results: A total of 120 patients were enrolled in the treatment and control groups (n = 60 per group), and 15 patients dropped out of the study because of skin allergies (n = 7) or poor efficacy (n = 8). The efficacy among patients in Class B of Group A(treatment group) was marginally better than that of Group B (control group) (64.28% vs. 55.56%) although the difference between the two groups was not significant. However, the efficacy among patients in Class C of Group A was significantly better than that of Group B (79.49% vs. 43.33%). For Group A, the time for patients in the three classes to achieve the efficacy endpoint increased significantly with disease progression (3.00, 6.78, and 8.29 days for Class A, B, and C, respectively). Conclusions: Gastroparesis external application prescription can effectively treat gastrointestinal tumor postsurgical gastroparesis and may be more efficacious in progressive disease compared placebo. Patients with gastrointestinal tumor postsurgical gastroparesis should therefore undergo intervention at an earlier stage

Corrosion behavior and characteristics of passive films of laser powder bed fusion produced Ti–6Al–4V in dynamic Hank’s solution

The corrosion behavior of laser powder bed fusion produced (L-PBF-produced) titanium alloys involving flowing body fluid is still unclear. Therefore, this work investigates in vitro corrosion behavior and the characteristics of passive films formed on L-PBF-produced Ti–6Al–4V in both static and dynamic Hank’s solutions. Electrochemical measurements, immersion tests, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and scanning electron microscopy were conducted. In comparison to the L-PBF-produced Ti–6Al–4V in static Hank’s solution, the samples showed lower charge transfer resistance and higher passivation current density (anodic current density as well) in dynamic Hank’s solution. Meanwhile, a more apparent deposition of apatite and hydroxyapatite is found on the L-PBF-produced Ti–6Al–4V in dynamic Hank’s solution. Such outcomes mainly result from the enhancement of film/solution interfacial transportation in dynamic Hank’s solution. The dynamic Hank’s solution provides more calcium and phosphate ions to the surface of the passive film and also takes away the dissolved metal ions. Therefore, more salt deposition and a lower-quality passive film are found

Arhgef2 regulates neural differentiation in the cerebral cortex through mRNA m6A-methylation of Npdc1 and Cend1

Summary: N6-methyladenosine (m6A) is emerging as a vital factor regulating neural differentiation. Here, we report that deficiency of Arhgef2, a novel cause of a neurodevelopmental disorder we identified recently, impairs neurogenesis, neurite outgrowth, and synaptic formation by regulating m6A methylation. Arhgef2 knockout decreases expression of Mettl14 and total m6A level significantly in the cerebral cortex. m6A sequencing reveals that loss of Arhgef2 reduces m6A methylation of 1,622 mRNAs, including Npdc1 and Cend1, which are both strongly associated with cell cycle exit and terminal neural differentiation. Arhgef2 deficiency decreases m6A methylations of the Npdc1 and Cend1 mRNAs via down-regulation of Mettl14, and thereby inhibits the translation of Npdc1 and nuclear export of Cend1 mRNAs. Overexpression of Mettl14, Npdc1, and Cend1 rescue the abnormal phenotypes in Arhgef2 knockout mice, respectively. Our study provides a critical insight into a mechanism by which defective Arhgef2 mediates m6A-tagged target mRNAs to impair neural differentiation