Counting Crowds in Bad Weather

Crowd counting has recently attracted significant attention in the field of computer vision due to its wide applications to image understanding. Numerous methods have been proposed and achieved state-of-the-art performance for real-world tasks. However, existing approaches do not perform well under adverse weather such as haze, rain, and snow since the visual appearances of crowds in such scenes are drastically different from those images in clear weather of typical datasets. In this paper, we propose a method for robust crowd counting in adverse weather scenarios. Instead of using a two-stage approach that involves image restoration and crowd counting modules, our model learns effective features and adaptive queries to account for large appearance variations. With these weather queries, the proposed model can learn the weather information according to the degradation of the input image and optimize with the crowd counting module simultaneously. Experimental results show that the proposed algorithm is effective in counting crowds under different weather types on benchmark datasets. The source code and trained models will be made available to the public.Comment: including supplemental materia

Virtual Guidance as a Mid-level Representation for Navigation

In the context of autonomous navigation, effectively conveying abstract navigational cues to agents in dynamic environments poses challenges, particularly when the navigation information is multimodal. To address this issue, the paper introduces a novel technique termed "Virtual Guidance," which is designed to visually represent non-visual instructional signals. These visual cues, rendered as colored paths or spheres, are overlaid onto the agent's camera view, serving as easily comprehensible navigational instructions. We evaluate our proposed method through experiments in both simulated and real-world settings. In the simulated environments, our virtual guidance outperforms baseline hybrid approaches in several metrics, including adherence to planned routes and obstacle avoidance. Furthermore, we extend the concept of virtual guidance to transform text-prompt-based instructions into a visually intuitive format for real-world experiments. Our results validate the adaptability of virtual guidance and its efficacy in enabling policy transfer from simulated scenarios to real-world ones.Comment: Tsung-Chih Chiang, Ting-Ru Liu, Chun-Wei Huang, and Jou-Min Liu contributed equally to this work; This work has been submitted to the IEEE for possible publication. Copyright may be transferred without notice, after which this version may no longer be accessibl

Green tea extract supplementation ameliorates CCl4-induced hepatic oxidative stress, fibrosis, and acute-phase protein expression in rat

Background/PurposeWe evaluated the long-term effects of green tea extract (GTE) supplementation on oxidative stress, biliary acute phase protein expression, and liver function in CCl4-induced chronic liver injury.MethodsWe evaluated the antioxidant activity of GTE in comparison with those of vitamin C, vitamin E, and β-carotene in vitro by using an ultrasensitive chemiluminescence analyzer. Chronic liver injury was induced by intraperitoneally administering carbon tetrachloride (CCl4) (1mL/kg body weight, twice weekly) to female Wistar rats for 8 weeks. The effects of low (4mg/kg body weight per day) and high (20mg/kg body weight per day) doses of intragastric GTE on CCl4-induced liver dysfunction and fibrosis were examined by measuring the bile and blood reactive oxygen species levels and biochemical parameters by using Western blot and two-dimensional polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis techniques.ResultsGTE has greater scavenging activity against O2–, H2O2, and Hypochlorous acid (HOCl) in vitro than vitamin C, vitamin E, and β-carotene do. In vivo, CCl4 markedly increased bile and blood reactive oxygen species production, lipid accumulation, number of infiltrated leukocytes, fibrosis, hepatic hydroxyproline content, and plasma alanine aminotransferase and aspartate aminotransferase activities, and reduced plasma albumin levels. Two-dimensional polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis revealed that CCl4 increased the acute-phase expression of six biliary proteins and decreased hepatic B-cell lymphoma 2 (Bcl-2), catalase, and CuZn superoxide dismutase protein expression. GTE supplementation attenuated CCl4-enhanced oxidative stress, levels of biochemical parameters, pathology, and acute-phase protein secretion, and preserved antioxidant/antiapoptotic protein expression.ConclusionGTE supplementation attenuates CCl4-induced hepatic oxidative stress, fibrosis, acute phase protein excretion, and hepatic dysfunction via the antioxidant and antiapoptotic defense mechanisms

E2F transcription factor 1 overexpression as a poor prognostic factor in patients with nasopharyngeal carcinomas

AbstractNasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) is an endemic head and neck epithelial malignancy in Southeastern Asia and Taiwan. The E2 factor (E2F) family of transcription factors is downstream targets of the retinoblastoma protein 1. The E2F family of transcription factors is the key regulator of genes involved in cell cycle progression, cell fate determination, DNA damage repair and apoptosis. E2F1 is unique in that it contributes both to the control of cellular proliferation and cellular death. However, the expression of E2F1 protein and its clinicopathological associations in patients with NPC are yet to be evaluated. Immunoexpression of E2F1 was retrospectively assessed in biopsies of 124 consecutive NPC patients without initial distant metastasis and treated with consistent guidelines. The outcomes were correlated with clinicopathological features and patient survivals. Results indicated that high E2F1 protein level (50%) was correlated with primary tumor (p < 0.001) and stage (p = 0.002; 7th American Joint Committee on Cancer). In multivariate analyses, high E2F1 expression emerged as an independent prognosticator for worse disease-specific survival (p = 0.003), distal metastasis-free survival (p = 0.003), and local recurrence-free survival (p = 0.039). In conclusion, high E2F1 protein level is common, associated with adverse prognosticators, and might confer tumor aggressiveness through tumor cell proliferation and metastasis

ATP-Binding Cassette Transporter VcaM from Vibrio cholerae is Dependent on the Outer Membrane Factor Family for Its Function.

Vibrio cholerae ATP-binding cassette transporter VcaM (V. cholerae ABC multidrug resistance pump) has previously been shown to confer resistance to a variety of medically important drugs. In this study, we set to analyse its properties both in vitro in detergent-solubilised state and in vivo to differentiate its dependency on auxiliary proteins for its function. We report the first detailed kinetic parameters of purified VcaM and the rate of phosphate (Pi) production. To determine the possible functional dependencies of VcaM on the tripartite efflux pumps we then utilized different E. coli strains lacking the principal secondary transporter AcrB (Acriflavine resistance protein), as well as cells lacking the outer membrane factor (OMF) TolC (Tolerance to colicins). Consistent with the ATPase function of VcaM we found it to be susceptible to sodium orthovanadate (NaOV), however, we also found a clear dependency of VcaM function on TolC. Inhibitors targeting secondary active transporters had no effects on either VcaM-conferred resistance or Hoechst 33342 accumulation, suggesting that VcaM might be capable of engaging with the TolC-channel without periplasmic mediation by additional transporters. Our findings are indicative of VcaM being capable of a one-step substrate translocation from cytosol to extracellular space utilising the TolC-channel, making it the only multidrug ABC-transporter outside of the MacB-family with demonstrable TolC-dependency

Simple and Specific Dual-Wavelength Excitable Dye Staining for Glycoprotein Detection in Polyacrylamide Gels and Its Application in Glycoproteomics

In this study, a commercially available fluorescent dye, Lissamine rhodamine B sulfonyl hydrazine (LRSH), was designed to specifically stain the glycoproteins in polyacrylamide gels. Through the periodate/Schiff base mechanism, the fluorescent dye readily attaches to glycoproteins and the fluorescence can be simultaneously observed under either 305 nm or 532 nm excitation therefore, the dye-stained glycoproteins can be detected under a regular UV transilluminator or a more elegant laser-based gel scanner. The specificity and detection limit were examined using a standard protein mixture in polyacrylamide gels in this study. The application of this glycoprotein stain dye was further demonstrated using pregnancy urine samples. The fluorescent spots were further digested in gel and their identities confirmed through LC-MS/MS analysis and database searching. In addition, the N-glycosylation sites of LRSH-labeled uromodulin were readily mapped via in-gel PNGaseF deglycosylation and LC-MS/MS analysis, which indicated that this fluorescent dye labeling does not interfere with enzymatic deglycosylation. Hence, the application of this simple and specific dual-wavelength excitable dye staining in current glycoproteome research is promising

Applying Factor Analysis Combined with Kriging and Information Entropy Theory for Mapping and Evaluating the Stability of Groundwater Quality Variation in Taiwan

In Taiwan many factors, whether geological parent materials, human activities, and climate change, can affect the groundwater quality and its stability. This work combines factor analysis and kriging with information entropy theory to interpret the stability of groundwater quality variation in Taiwan between 2005 and 2007. Groundwater quality demonstrated apparent differences between the northern and southern areas of Taiwan when divided by the Wu River. Approximately 52% of the monitoring wells in southern Taiwan suffered from progressing seawater intrusion, causing unstable groundwater quality. Industrial and livestock wastewaters also polluted 59.6% of the monitoring wells, resulting in elevated EC and TOC concentrations in the groundwater. In northern Taiwan, domestic wastewaters polluted city groundwater, resulting in higher NH3-N concentration and groundwater quality instability was apparent among 10.3% of the monitoring wells. The method proposed in this study for analyzing groundwater quality inspects common stability factors, identifies potential areas influenced by common factors, and assists in elevating and reinforcing information in support of an overall groundwater management strategy

The influence of long-term treadmill exercise on bone mass and articular cartilage in ovariectomized rats

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Loss of bone quality and deterioration of articular cartilage are commonly seen after menopause. While exercise may protect against tissue degeneration, a clear link has yet to be established. The aim of the present study is to investigate the influence of long-term treadmill exercise on changes in bone mass and articular cartilage in ovariectomized rats.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Sixty female Sprague-Dawley rats were randomly assigned to 4 groups: ovariectomized (OVX), ovariectomized plus treadmill exercise (OVX-RUN), treadmill exercise alone (RUN), and control (CON) groups. After 36 weeks, the following variables were compared among the 4 groups. Bone mass was evaluated by trabecular bone volume and bone mineral density (BMD). Articular cartilage in the knee joints was evaluated by histology analysis and a modified Mankin score.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Rats in the ovariectomized groups (OVX and OVX-RUN) had significantly lower BMD and bone mass than the non-ovariectomized rats (CON and RUN), indicating that exercise did little to preserve bone mass. However, the sedentary OVX group had a significantly worse modified Mankin score (7.7 ± 1.4) than the OVX-RUN group (4.8 ± 1.0), whose scores did not differ significantly from the other 2 non-operated groups. The articular cartilage in the sedentary OVX rats was relatively thinner, hypocellular, and had more clefts than in the other 3 groups.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>This study suggests that long-term exercise protects articular cartilage in OVX rats but does not retard the loss of bone mass seen in after menopause.</p