LFS-GAN: Lifelong Few-Shot Image Generation

We address a challenging lifelong few-shot image generation task for the first time. In this situation, a generative model learns a sequence of tasks using only a few samples per task. Consequently, the learned model encounters both catastrophic forgetting and overfitting problems at a time. Existing studies on lifelong GANs have proposed modulation-based methods to prevent catastrophic forgetting. However, they require considerable additional parameters and cannot generate high-fidelity and diverse images from limited data. On the other hand, the existing few-shot GANs suffer from severe catastrophic forgetting when learning multiple tasks. To alleviate these issues, we propose a framework called Lifelong Few-Shot GAN (LFS-GAN) that can generate high-quality and diverse images in lifelong few-shot image generation task. Our proposed framework learns each task using an efficient task-specific modulator - Learnable Factorized Tensor (LeFT). LeFT is rank-constrained and has a rich representation ability due to its unique reconstruction technique. Furthermore, we propose a novel mode seeking loss to improve the diversity of our model in low-data circumstances. Extensive experiments demonstrate that the proposed LFS-GAN can generate high-fidelity and diverse images without any forgetting and mode collapse in various domains, achieving state-of-the-art in lifelong few-shot image generation task. Surprisingly, we find that our LFS-GAN even outperforms the existing few-shot GANs in the few-shot image generation task. The code is available at Github.Comment: 20 pages, 19 figures, 14 tables, ICCV 2023 Poste

Perception-Oriented Single Image Super-Resolution using Optimal Objective Estimation

Single-image super-resolution (SISR) networks trained with perceptual and adversarial losses provide high-contrast outputs compared to those of networks trained with distortion-oriented losses, such as L1 or L2. However, it has been shown that using a single perceptual loss is insufficient for accurately restoring locally varying diverse shapes in images, often generating undesirable artifacts or unnatural details. For this reason, combinations of various losses, such as perceptual, adversarial, and distortion losses, have been attempted, yet it remains challenging to find optimal combinations. Hence, in this paper, we propose a new SISR framework that applies optimal objectives for each region to generate plausible results in overall areas of high-resolution outputs. Specifically, the framework comprises two models: a predictive model that infers an optimal objective map for a given low-resolution (LR) input and a generative model that applies a target objective map to produce the corresponding SR output. The generative model is trained over our proposed objective trajectory representing a set of essential objectives, which enables the single network to learn various SR results corresponding to combined losses on the trajectory. The predictive model is trained using pairs of LR images and corresponding optimal objective maps searched from the objective trajectory. Experimental results on five benchmarks show that the proposed method outperforms state-of-the-art perception-driven SR methods in LPIPS, DISTS, PSNR, and SSIM metrics. The visual results also demonstrate the superiority of our method in perception-oriented reconstruction. The code and models are available at https://github.com/seungho-snu/SROOE.Comment: Code and trained models will be available at https://github.com/seungho-snu/SROO

Bucillamine prevents cisplatin-induced ototoxicity through induction of glutathione and antioxidant genes.

Bucillamine is used for the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis. This study investigated the protective effects of bucillamine against cisplatin-induced damage in auditory cells, the organ of Corti from postnatal rats (P2) and adult Balb/C mice. Cisplatin increases the catalytic activity of caspase-3 and caspase-8 proteases and the production of free radicals, which were significantly suppressed by pretreatment with bucillamine. Bucillamine induces the intranuclear translocation of Nrf2 and thereby increases the expression of γ-glutamylcysteine synthetase (γ-GCS) and glutathione synthetase (GSS), which further induces intracellular antioxidant glutathione (GSH), heme oxygenase 1 (HO-1) and superoxide dismutase 2 (SOD2). However, knockdown studies of HO-1 and SOD2 suggest that the protective effect of bucillamine against cisplatin is independent of the enzymatic activity of HO-1 and SOD. Furthermore, pretreatment with bucillamine protects sensory hair cells on organ of Corti explants from cisplatin-induced cytotoxicity concomitantly with inhibition of caspase-3 activation. The auditory-brainstem-evoked response of cisplatin-injected mice shows marked increases in hearing threshold shifts, which was markedly suppressed by pretreatment with bucillamine in vivo. Taken together, bucillamine protects sensory hair cells from cisplatin through a scavenging effect on itself, as well as the induction of intracellular GSH

The Occurrence and Speed of CMEs Related to Two Characteristic Evolution Patterns of Helicity Injection in Their Solar Source Regions

Long-term (a few days) variation of magnetic helicity injection was calculated for 28 solar active regions which produced 47 CMEs to find its relationships with the CME occurrence and speed using SOHO/MDI line-of-sight magnetograms. As a result, we found that the 47 CMEs can be categorized into two different groups by two characteristic evolution patterns of helicity injection in their source active regions which appeared for about 0.5-4.5 days before their occurrence: (1) a monotonically increasing pattern with one sign of helicity (Group A; 30 CMEs in 23 active regions) and (2) a pattern of significant helicity injection followed by its sign reversal (Group B; 17 CMEs in 5 active regions). We also found that CME speed has a correlation with average helicity injection rate with linear correlation coefficients of 0.85 and 0.63 for Group A and Group B, respectively. In addition, these two CME groups show different characteristics as follows: (1) the average CME speed of Group B (1330km/s) is much faster than that of Group A (870km/s), (2) the CMEs in Group A tend to be single events, whereas those in Group B mainly consist of successive events, and (3) flares related to the CMEs in Group B are relatively more energetic and impulsive than those in Group A. Our findings therefore suggest that the two CME groups have different pre-CME conditions in their source active regions and different CME characteristics.Comment: 25 pages, 7 figures, accepted for publication in Ap

Anti-malarial activity of 6-(8'Z-pentadecenyl)-salicylic acid from Viola websteri in mice

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Petroleum ether extracts of <it>Viola websteri </it>Hemsl (Violaceae) were reported to have anti-plasmodial activity against <it>Plasmodium falciparum in vitro</it>, with this activity being largely attributable to 6-(8'Z-pentadecenyl)-salicylic acid (6-SA).</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>The schizontocidal activity of 6-SA on early <it>Plasmodium berghei </it>infections was evaluated in a four-day test. The possible 'repository' activity of 6-SA was assessed using the method described by Peters. The median lethal dose (LD₅₀) of 6-SA, when given intraperitoneally, was also determined using uninfected ICR mice and the method of Lorke.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>In the present study, 6-SA was found to have anti-malarial activity <it>in vivo</it>, when tested against <it>P. berghei </it>in mice. 6-SA at 5, 10 and 25 mg/kg·day exhibited a significant blood schizontocidal activity in four-day early infections, repository evaluations and established infections with a significant mean survival time comparable to that of the standard drug, chloroquine (5 mg/kg·day).</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>6-SA possesses a moderate anti-malarial activity that could be exploited for malaria therapy.</p

CdSe quantum dot (QD) and molecular dye hybrid sensitizers for TiO2 mesoporous solar cells: working together with a common hole carrier of cobalt complexes

Redox couples based on cobalt complexes were found to be effective in regenerating both inorganic CdSe quantum dot-and organic dye-sensitizers. The hybrid sensitizer composed of CdSe QD and ruthenium sensitizer (Z907Na) dye showed a maximum power conversion efficiency of 4.76% on using cobalt(o-phen)(3)(2+/3+) as a common redox mediator.close202

Tempcore Process Simulator to Analyze Microstructural Evolution of Quenched and Tempered Rebar

Featured Application Proposed process simulator can be widely applied to parameter design of industrial Tempcore process with reduced cost and time. Abstract Tempcore process simulator (TPS) has been developed in this study to analyze the microstructural evolution of quenched and tempered rebar. There has been an increasing need to relate the complex microstructures to the resulting properties of quenched and tempered rebar. However, information on such relationships typically requires precise thermal histories imposed on the workpiece. Therefore, TPS, capable of simulating the Tempcore process, has been developed to produce high-fidelity data. TPS mainly consists of a vacuum induction furnace, pilot rolling mill, box furnace, and cooling unit to simulate shop floor operations. A series of experimental tests were successfully carried out with various parameters, such as reheating temperature, water flow, water pressure, and cooling time. The effects of chemical compositions and cooling time on the microstructural evolution and mechanical properties of quenched and tempered rebar have been analyzed to validate the performance of TPS. The results show that TPS can simulate the Tempcore process with a high degree of fidelity and reliability.11Ysciescopu