Deep learning based stereo matching on a small dataset

Deep learning (DL) has been used in many computer vision tasks including stereo matching. However, DL is data hungry, and a large number of highly accurate real-world training images for stereo matching is too expensive to acquire in practice. The majority of studies rely on large simulated datasets during training, which inevitably results in domain shift problems that are commonly compensated by fine-tuning. This work proposes a recursive 3D convolutional neural network (CNN) to improve the accuracy of DL based stereo matching that is suitable for real-world scenarios with a small set of available images, without having to use a large simulated dataset and without fine-tuning. In addition, we propose a novel scale-invariant feature transform (SIFT) based adaptive window for matching cost computation that is a crucial step in the stereo matching pipeline to enhance accuracy. Extensive end-to-end comparative experiments demonstrate the superiority of the proposed recursive 3D CNN and SIFT based adaptive windows. Our work achieves effective generalization corroborated by training solely on the indoor Middlebury Stereo 2014 dataset and validating on outdoor KITTI 2012 and KITTI 2015 datasets. As a comparison, our bad-4.0-error is 24.2 that is on par with the AANet (CVPR2020) method according to the publicly evaluated report from the Middlebury Stereo Evaluation Benchmark

Single group study to evaluate the feasibility and complications of radiofrequency ablation and usefulness of post treatment position emission tomography in lung tumours

BACKGROUND: There is genuine need to develop interventional treatment options for management of lung tumors. Radiofrequency ablation (RFA) is one such alternative being promoted to treat lung tumors recently. Larger studies should help define RFA's further development. Furthermore fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography (PET) has been reported to be an accurate indicator of treatment response in variety of tumors. This study focuses on the evaluating the feasibility of RFA and usefulness of PET scan in lung tumors after RFA procedure. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Between November 1999 and May 2002, 50 patients with primary or metastasis pulmonary tumors underwent RFA procedure. The electrode was guided to the target areas using computerized tomography (CT). Tumors smaller than 3.5 cm were given single RFA, while tumors larger than 3.5 cm received RFA to multiple sites. Maximum 4 lesions or 6 target areas were treated during one operating procedure. Whole body and/or lung PET images were acquired; identical site CT images and chest X-ray were taken 1 week before and after RFA. RESULTS: Of the 50 patients, 17 had single lesions while rest had multiple lesions. Tumors smaller than 3.5 cm were completely dissipated after RFA. In tumors larger than 3.5 cm, the part within 3.5 cm diameter dissipated. While CT showed that tumor image became larger 1 to 2 weeks after RFA procedure. PET demonstrated tumor destruction in 70% cases, compared to 38% in CT. CONCLUSION: The present study shows RFA to be safe and effective treatment option for lung tumors. PET is superior to CT in evaluation the effectiveness of RFA treatment shortly after the procedure

Pyrolysis characteristics of waste tire particles in fixed-bed reactor with internals

This study investigated the characteristics of pyrolysis for waste tire particles in the newly developed fixed-bed reactor with internals that are a central gas collection channel mounted inside reactor. And a few metallic plates vertically welded on the internal wall of the reactors and extending to the region closing their central gas collection pipe walls. Experiments were conducted in two laboratory fixed bed reactors with or without the internals. The results shown that employing internals produced more light oil at externally heating temperatures above 700 °C due to the inhibited secondary reactions in the reactor. The oil from the reactor with internals contained more aliphatic hydrocarbons and fewer aromatic hydrocarbons, leading to its higher H/C atomic ratios as for crude petroleum oil. The char yield was relatively stable for two beds and showed the higher heating values (HHVs) of about 23 MJ/kg. The gaseous product of pyrolysis mainly consisted of H2 and CH4, but the use of internals led to less pyrolysis gas through its promotion of oil production. Keywords: Pyrolysis, Waste tire, Fixed bed, Internals, Secondary reaction

Case report: Cryoablation as a novel bridging strategy prior to CAR-T cell therapy for B cell malignancies with bulky disease

Chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy has emerged as a powerful immunotherapy in relapsed/refractory (R/R) hematological malignancies, especially in R/R B-cell acute lymphocytic leukemia (B-ALL), non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL), and multiple myeloma (MM). To prevent disease progression and reduce tumor burden during CAR-T cell manufacturing, bridging therapies prior to CAR-T cell infusion are crucial. At present, it has been demonstrated that targeted therapy, radiotherapy and autologous stem cell transplantation (ASCT) could serve as effective bridging strategies. However, whether cryoablation could serve as a novel bridging strategy is unknown. In this paper, we report 2 cases of R/R B cell malignancies with bulky disease that were successfully treated with a combination of cryoablation and CAR-T cell therapy. Patient 1 was a 65-year-old female who was diagnosed with R/R MM with extramedullary disease (EMD). She was enrolled in the anti-BCMA CAR-T cell clinical trial. Patient 2 was a 70-year-old man who presented with a subcutaneous mass in the right anterior thigh and was diagnosed with primary cutaneous diffuse large B cell lymphoma, leg type (PCLBCL-LT) 1 year ago. He failed multiline chemotherapies as well as radiotherapy. Thus, he requested anti-CD19 CAR-T cell therapy. Unfortunately, they all experienced local progression during CAR-T cell manufacturing. To rapidly achieve local tumor control and reduce tumor burden, they both received cryoablation as a bridging therapy. Patient 1 achieved a very good partial response (VGPR) 1 month after CAR-T cell infusion, and patient 2 achieved a partial response (PR) 1 month after CAR-T cell infusion. In addition, adverse effects were tolerable and manageable. Our study demonstrated the favorable safety and efficacy of combination therapy with cryoablation and CAR-T cell therapy for the first time, and it also indicates that cryoablation could serve as a novel therapeutic strategy for local tumor control in B cell malignancies

100 essential questions for the future of agriculture

Publication history: Accepted - 8 March 2023; Published online - 11 April 2023.The world is at a crossroad when it comes to agriculture. The global population is growing, and the demand for food is increasing, putting a strain on our agricultural resources and practices. To address this challenge, innovative, sustainable, and inclusive approaches to agriculture are urgently required. In this paper, we launched a call for Essential Questions for the Future of Agriculture and identified a priority list of 100 questions. We focus on 10 primary themes: transforming agri-food systems, enhancing resilience of agriculture to climate change, mitigating climate change through agriculture, exploring resources and technologies for breeding, advancing cultivation methods, sustaining healthy agroecosystems, enabling smart and controlled-environment agriculture for food security, promoting health and nutrition-driven agriculture, exploring economic opportunities and addressing social challenges, and integrating one health and modern agriculture. We emphasise the critical importance of interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary research that integrates both basic and applied sciences and bridges the gaps among various stakeholders for achieving sustainable agriculture. Key points Growing demand and resource limitations pose a critical challenge for agriculture, necessitating innovative and sustainable approaches. The paper identifies 100 priority questions for the future of agriculture, indicating current and future research directions. Sustainable agriculture depends on interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary research that harmonises basic and applied sciences and fosters collaboration among different stakeholders

Energy Fuels

With utilization of internals to enhance heat transfer and regulate the pyrolysis gas flow direction inside the reactor, this study proposed and tested a new fixed-bed coal pyrolysis reactor indirectly heated. Majorly, both yield and quality of the produced tar were evaluated by comparing the behaviors of laboratory pyrolyzers with and without internals. The results show that the use of the particularly designed internals increased the heating efficiency from the reactor wall to the coal bed by more than 2 times, while the tar yield was obviously higher in the reactor with internals. For Yilan sub-bituminous coal, the tar yield reached about 80% of the tar yield given by the Gray-King analysis (11.8 wt %, dry-coal basis) in the laboratory reactor with internals, while the corresponding light tar below the boiling points of 360 degrees C was about 65 wt % of the total tar mass. With raising the heating temperature of the furnace from 600 to 1000 degrees C, the tar yield increased from 8.5 to 10.64 wt % for the reactor with internals. In contrast, the tar yield, decreased remarkably from 7.98 to 4.77 wt % in the conventional reactor without any internal. All of these show essentially that the adopted internals greatly changed the physiochemical procedure involved in coal pyrolysis, which, in turn, obviously affected the yield and quality of tar.With utilization of internals to enhance heat transfer and regulate the pyrolysis gas flow direction inside the reactor, this study proposed and tested a new fixed-bed coal pyrolysis reactor indirectly heated. Majorly, both yield and quality of the produced tar were evaluated by comparing the behaviors of laboratory pyrolyzers with and without internals. The results show that the use of the particularly designed internals increased the heating efficiency from the reactor wall to the coal bed by more than 2 times, while the tar yield was obviously higher in the reactor with internals. For Yilan sub-bituminous coal, the tar yield reached about 80% of the tar yield given by the Gray-King analysis (11.8 wt %, dry-coal basis) in the laboratory reactor with internals, while the corresponding light tar below the boiling points of 360 degrees C was about 65 wt % of the total tar mass. With raising the heating temperature of the furnace from 600 to 1000 degrees C, the tar yield increased from 8.5 to 10.64 wt % for the reactor with internals. In contrast, the tar yield, decreased remarkably from 7.98 to 4.77 wt % in the conventional reactor without any internal. All of these show essentially that the adopted internals greatly changed the physiochemical procedure involved in coal pyrolysis, which, in turn, obviously affected the yield and quality of tar

Magnetic powder MnO-Fe \u3c inf\u3e 2 O \u3c inf\u3e 3 composite - A novel material for the removal of azo-dye from water

Fine powder adsorbents or catalysts often show better adsorptive or catalytic properties, but they encounter the difficulties of separation and recovery in application. In this study, four inexpensive magnetic powder MnO-Fe2O3 composites used as adsorbent-catalyst materials were prepared and characterized. These materials could be recovered efficiently by a magnetic separation method. Their adsorptive properties for the removal of an azo-dye, acid red B (ARB), from water and the regeneration of adsorbents containing ARB by catalytic combustion was studied. These powder adsorbents showed excellent adsorption towards ARB under acidic conditions. A very fast adsorption rate was observed and could be well described by a pseudo-second-order kinetics model. The adsorption capacity increased with increasing Fe content and surface area of the adsorbent, and the highest adsorption capacity of 105.3 mg/g was obtained at pH 3.5. The adsorption was not affected by the presence of Cl-, but was significantly affected by SO42-. The adsorbent containing ARB can be regenerated by catalytic combustion of adsorbed ARB at 400°C in air. Laboratory experiments demonstrated that this material is reusable. © 2004 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved

Energy Fuels

Using internals in kilogram-laboratory fixed bed pyrolysis of coal has been newly reported to greatly upgrade the pyrolysis performance in terms of the yield and quality of the produced tar and pyrolysis gas. This work is devoted to further verifying such a finding through pyrolysis tests in enlarged fixed bed reactors with and without internals at obviously increased coal treatment capacities of about 100 kg of coal per test. The reactors were electrically heated, and the tests were via batchwise operation, while Yilan sub-bituminous coal was used. Comparing the results from reactors without and with the particularly designed internals demonstrated that the use of internals increased the heating to the coal bed by about 20%, while the tar yield was 87.0% of the Gray-King (G-K) tar yield, which was obviously higher than 46.9% of the G-K tar yield from the reactor without internals. In the tar from the internal-enhanced reactor, the content of light tar (boiling point below 360 degrees C) was about 71 wt %. Raising the furnace temperature from 900 to 1100 degrees C increased the tar yield from 80.5% to 90.3% of the Gray-King tar yield for the reactor with internals. Parametric studies were performed for coal particle size, heating furnace temperature, and coal moisture content.Using internals in kilogram-laboratory fixed bed pyrolysis of coal has been newly reported to greatly upgrade the pyrolysis performance in terms of the yield and quality of the produced tar and pyrolysis gas. This work is devoted to further verifying such a finding through pyrolysis tests in enlarged fixed bed reactors with and without internals at obviously increased coal treatment capacities of about 100 kg of coal per test. The reactors were electrically heated, and the tests were via batchwise operation, while Yilan sub-bituminous coal was used. Comparing the results from reactors without and with the particularly designed internals demonstrated that the use of internals increased the heating to the coal bed by about 20%, while the tar yield was 87.0% of the Gray-King (G-K) tar yield, which was obviously higher than 46.9% of the G-K tar yield from the reactor without internals. In the tar from the internal-enhanced reactor, the content of light tar (boiling point below 360 degrees C) was about 71 wt %. Raising the furnace temperature from 900 to 1100 degrees C increased the tar yield from 80.5% to 90.3% of the Gray-King tar yield for the reactor with internals. Parametric studies were performed for coal particle size, heating furnace temperature, and coal moisture content

Use of n-(1-14C) hexadecane to study the fate of dispersed crude oil in marine enclosed ecosystems

In IDL-1113