Rician Noise Removal via a Learned Dictionary

This paper proposes a new effective model for denoising images with Rician noise. The sparse representations of images have been shown to be efficient approaches for image processing. Inspired by this, we learn a dictionary from the noisy image and then combine the MAP model with it for Rician noise removal. For solving the proposed model, the primal-dual algorithm is applied and its convergence is studied. The computational results show that the proposed method is promising in restoring images with Rician noise

Photoperiod-responsive changes in chromatin accessibility in phloem companion and epidermis cells of Arabidopsis leaves

Photoperiod plays a key role in controlling the phase transition from vegetative to reproductive growth in flowering plants. Leaves are the major organs perceiving day-length signals, but how specific leaf cell types respond to photoperiod remains unknown. We integrated photoperiod-responsive chromatin accessibility and transcriptome data in leaf epidermis and vascular companion cells of Arabidopsis thaliana by combining isolation of nuclei tagged in specific cell/tissue types with assay for transposase-accessible chromatin using sequencing and RNA-sequencing. Despite a large overlap, vasculature and epidermis cells responded differently. Long-day predominantly induced accessible chromatin regions (ACRs); in the vasculature, more ACRs were induced and these were located at more distal gene regions, compared with the epidermis. Vascular ACRs induced by long days were highly enriched in binding sites for flowering-related transcription factors. Among the highly ranked genes (based on chromatin and expression signatures in the vasculature), we identified TREHALOSE-PHOSPHATASE/SYNTHASE 9 (TPS9) as a flowering activator, as shown by the late flowering phenotypes of T-DNA insertion mutants and transgenic lines with phloem-specific knockdown of TPS9. Our cell-type-specific analysis sheds light on how the long-day photoperiod stimulus impacts chromatin accessibility in a tissue-specific manner to regulate plant development

Multi-Feature Guided Low-Light Image Enhancement

Due to the characteristics of low signal-to-noise ratio and low contrast, low-light images will have problems such as color distortion, low visibility, and accompanying noise, which will cause the accuracy of the target detection problem to drop or even miss the detection target. However, recalibrating the dataset for this type of image will face problems such as increased cost or reduced model robustness. To solve this kind of problem, we propose a low-light image enhancement model based on deep learning. In this paper, the feature extraction is guided by the illumination map and noise map, and then the neural network is trained to predict the local affine model coefficients in the bilateral space. Through these methods, our network can effectively denoise and enhance images. We have conducted extensive experiments on the LOL datasets, and the results show that, compared with traditional image enhancement algorithms, the model is superior to traditional methods in image quality and speed

Attapulgite Modified with Silane Coupling Agent for Phosphorus Adsorption and Deep Bleaching of Refined Palm Oil

Attapulgite (ATP) clay was modified with different silane coupling agents [3-triethoxysilylpropylamine (KH550), γ-glycidoxypropyltrimethoxysilane (KH560) and γ-methacryloxypropyltrimethoxysilane (KH570)] and used as a decolourizer for bleaching of refined palm oil. The effects of different silane coupling agents on the structure, surface charges and pore structure of ATP were investigated by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction, thermogravimetric analysis, Zeta potential and nitrogen adsorption-desorption isotherm techniques, and the decolourization efficiency of the modified ATP was evaluated by UV-Vis absorbance and Lovibond colour. The results show that the KH550-modified ATP exhibits the best decolourization performance, which can decrease the red-yellow value of refined palm oil by 31.96% and the phosphorus content by 77.69% after bleaching; while the unmodified ATP can only decrease these values by 17.30% and 62.31%, respectively

Chemical compositions, extraction technology, and antioxidant activity of petroleum ether extract from Abutilon theophrasti Medic. leaves

Petroleum ether extract from Abutilon theophrasti Medic. leaves was optimized by response surface methodology, and the optimal extraction conditions were as follows: ratio of solvent to material (20.12 mL/g), extraction time (5.45 h), and Soxhlet extraction temperature (61.32°C). And the yield of petroleum ether extract collected in August, September, and October was (2.05 ± 0.02)%, (2.39 ± 0.01)%, and (2.32 ± 0.02)%, respectively. The September and October extracts exhibited a better antioxidant activity, which was proved by DPPH·scavenging ability (IC50 value of 327.5 and 331.5 μg/mL), ABTS·+ scavenging ability (IC50 value of 170.1 and 182.1 μg/mL), and reducing power (0.31 and 0.28 mmol Fe2+/100 μg/mL). Meanwhile, the gas chromatograph-mass spectrometry analysis revealed that the main antioxidant components contained 9, 12, 15-octadecatrienoic acid and 9, 12, 15-octadecatrienoic acid, ethyl ester (Z,Z,Z) in three petroleum ether extracts. Therefore, petroleum ether extract from Abutilon theophrasti Medic. leaves can be a potential resource of natural antioxidants in pharmaceutical, medicine, food, and chemical industries

The physical and mechanical properties of recycled aggregates strengthened by enzyme induced carbonate precipitation

Enzyme induced carbonate precipitation (EICP) which applied to improve the quality of recycled aggregates (RA) is a novel technology in the field of civil engineering. The urease was extracted from soybean, and the factors including soybean powder concentration, temperature and pH value on urease activity were investigated. Then the EICP reaction kinetics was carried out to obtain the most suitable reaction environment. A spraying method instead of soaking method for modifying RA was proposed, and the physical and mechanical properties of RA were evaluated by water absorption, hardness, apparent density and crushing index. The results show that the optimum pH value of soybean urease is 8.0, the concentration of soybean power is 40 g/L, and the urease activity increases with temperature in the range of 10–50 °C. Spraying method was better than soaking method in water absorption reduction rate of RA with different particle sizes. When the concentration of the chemical solution is 0.5 mol/L, the improvement in the water absorption characteristics of the RA is most significant. And the modified RA have also undergone substantial improvements in terms of hardness and apparent density. On the 7-day of modification, the crushing index of the RA reaches the peak. Through microscopic observation, the pore volume of the modified RA is significantly reduced, and the content of CaCO3 is significantly increased, and the main crystalline form of CaCO3 are calcite and vaterite

Carbon/Attapulgite Composites as Recycled Palm Oil-Decoloring and Dye Adsorbents

Activated clay minerals have been widely used in the edible oil refining industry for decolorization of crude oil by adsorption, and so far many methods have been used to improve their decolorization efficiency. Herein, we successfully prepared a series of carbon/attapulgite (C/APT) composite adsorbents by a one-step in-situ carbonization process with natural starch (St) as the carbon source. It has been revealed that the adsorbent had better decolorization efficiency for crude palm oil than acid-activated APT. However, more than a million tons of decolorized waste is produced every year in the oil-refining industry, which was often treated as solid waste and has not yet been reutilized effectively. In order to explore a viable method to recycle and reuse the decolorant, the waste decolorant was further prepared into new C/APT adsorbents for the removal of dyes from wastewater, and then the dyes adsorbed on the adsorbent were used as the carbon sources to produce new C/APT adsorbents by a cyclic carbonization process. The results showed that the adsorbents prepared from the decolorized waste could remove more than 99.5% of the methylene blue (MB), methyl violet (MV), and malachite green (MG) dyes from the simulated wastewater with the dye concentration of 200 mg/L, and the C/APT–Re adsorbent consecutively regenerated five times using the adsorbed dyes as a carbon source still exhibit good adsorption efficiency for dyes. As a whole, this process opens a new avenue to develop efficient decolorants of palm oil and achieves recyclable utilization of decolored waste

Rician Noise Removal via a Learned Dictionary

This paper proposes a new effective model for denoising images with Rician noise. The sparse representations of images have been shown to be efficient approaches for image processing. Inspired by this, we learn a dictionary from the noisy image and then combine the MAP model with it for Rician noise removal. For solving the proposed model, the primal-dual algorithm is applied and its convergence is studied. The computational results show that the proposed method is promising in restoring images with Rician noise

Dose-effect relationship on anti-inflammatory activity on LPS induced RAW 264.7 cells and antioxidant activity of rutin in vitro

Rutin, as a common flavonol glycoside, exists abundantly in many plants and exhibits various nutritional and pharmacological function. Current study focused on the dose-effect relationship of rutin on the anti-inflammatory and antioxidant activities in vitro against LPS-stimulated RAW 264.7 cells and free radicals or ferric-ion. This study evaluated the anti-inflammatory activity by observation cell morphological and determination of the content of NO, TNF-α, IL-1β and IL-6, and the phagocytic activity in LPS induced RAW 264.7 cells; and revealed the antioxidant activities via assay of DPPH radical scavenging capacity, ABTS radical scavenging capacity, and reducing power. The study indicated that 5, 10, 20, 50 and 100 μM of rutin all exhibited a better anti-inflammatory activity, in especial 50 and 100 μM. Meanwhile, it exerted a stronger antioxidant activities than BHT, and equivalent to VC at the same concentration. Combined, the results suggested that rutin will be a potential and important adjuvant in treatment of inflammatory diseases and oxidative stress