Separating Invisible Sounds Toward Universal Audiovisual Scene-Aware Sound Separation

The audio-visual sound separation field assumes visible sources in videos, but this excludes invisible sounds beyond the camera's view. Current methods struggle with such sounds lacking visible cues. This paper introduces a novel "Audio-Visual Scene-Aware Separation" (AVSA-Sep) framework. It includes a semantic parser for visible and invisible sounds and a separator for scene-informed separation. AVSA-Sep successfully separates both sound types, with joint training and cross-modal alignment enhancing effectiveness.Comment: Accepted at ICCV 2023 - AV4D, 4 figures, 3 table

Constitutive Activation of β-Catenin in Differentiated Osteoclasts Induces Bone Loss in Mice

Background/Aims: Activation of the Wnt/β-catenin signalling pathway has been widely investigated in bone biology and shown to promote bone formation. However, its specific effects on osteoclast differentiation have not been fully elucidated. Our study aimed to identify the role of β-catenin in osteoclastogenesis and bone homeostasis. Methods: In the present study, exon 3 in the β-catenin gene (Ctnnb1) allele encoding phosphorylation target serine/threonine residues was flanked by floxP sequences. We generated mice exhibiting conditional β-catenin activation (Ctsk-Cre;Ctnnb1flox(exon3)/+, designated CA-β-catenin) by crossing Ctnnb1flox(exon3)/flox(exon3) mice with osteoclast-specific Ctsk-Cre mice. Bone growth and bone mass were analysed by micro-computed tomography (micro-CT) and histomorphometry. To further examine osteoclast activity, osteoclasts were induced from bone marrow monocytes (BMMs) isolated from CA-β-catenin and Control mice in vitro. Osteoclast differentiation was detected by tartrate-resistant acid phosphatase (TRAP) staining, immunofluorescence staining and reverse transcription-quantitative PCR (RT–qPCR) analysis. Results: Growth retardation and low bone mass were observed in CA-β-catenin mice. Compared to controls, CA-β-catenin mice had significantly reduced trabecular bone numbers under growth plates as well as thinner cortical bones. Moreover, increased TRAP-positive osteoclasts were observed on the surfaces of trabecular bones and cortical bones in the CA-β-catenin mice; consistent results were observed in vitro. In the CA-β-catenin group, excessive numbers of osteoclasts were induced from BMMs, accompanied by the increased expression of osteoclast-associated marker genes. Conclusion: These results indicated that the constitutive activation of β-catenin in osteoclasts promotes osteoclast formation, resulting in bone loss

Effect of the +781C/T polymorphism in the interleukin-8 gene on atherosclerotic cerebral infarction, and its interaction with smoking and drinking.

OBJECTIVE: The aims of this study were to investigate the association between the +781C/T polymorphism of interleukin-8 (IL-8) and atherosclerotic cerebral infarction and the interaction between the +781C/T polymorphism and smoking or drinking in cerebral infarction in the Han Chinese population. METHODS: We investigated the +781C/T polymorphism of IL-8 in 308 consecutive Han Chinese patients who were diagnosed with atherosclerotic cerebral infarction and in 294 age- and gender-matched healthy control subjects. The patients were classified using the Oxfordshire Community Stroke Project (OCSP) classification. The patients and subjects' histories of smoking and drinking were recorded, and atherosclerosis (AS) of the internal carotid artery (ICA) was evaluated in the patients. The +781C/T polymorphism was determined by polymerase chain reaction and restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP) analysis. RESULTS: The +781C/T polymorphism and allele frequencies were not significantly different between the patients and controls and were not significantly associated with the OCSP classifications. We found that the 781C allele was significantly associated with AS of the ICA in the patients (p = 0.017), and the CT genotype was more prevalent in patients without AS of the ICA (p = 0.035). No interactions were observed between the +781C/T polymorphism and smoking or drinking. CONCLUSION: Our results demonstrated that the +781C/T polymorphism of IL-8 did not play a role and had no interaction with smoking or drinking in the occurrence of cerebral infarction in the Han Chinese population. However, the C allele and the CT genotype might be associated with AS of the ICA in patients with ischemic stroke

A wavelet-based Gaussian method for energy dispersive X-ray fluorescence spectrum

This paper presents a wavelet-based Gaussian method (WGM) for the peak intensity estimation of energy dispersive X-ray fluorescence (EDXRF). The relationship between the parameters of Gaussian curve and the wavelet coefficients of Gaussian peak point is firstly established based on the Mexican hat wavelet. It is found that the Gaussian parameters can be accurately calculated by any two wavelet coefficients at the peak point which has to be known. This fact leads to a local Gaussian estimation method for spectral peaks, which estimates the Gaussian parameters based on the detail wavelet coefficients of Gaussian peak point. The proposed method is tested via simulated and measured spectra from an energy X-ray spectrometer, and compared with some existing methods. The results prove that the proposed method can directly estimate the peak intensity of EDXRF free from the background information, and also effectively distinguish overlap peaks in EDXRF spectrum

Unipolar deviation control algorithm and its application in mine hoist mechanical braking system

A kind of unipolar deviation control algorithm was proposed and applied to mine hoist mechanical braking system. The algorithm can change a feedback control system from no error system to error system, which is beneficial to improve system stability and simplify system design; it can improve system dynamic property without changing system structure. In mine hoist mechanical brake system, the algorithm can be achieved by changing preset form, and was simple and practical