Blind Face Restoration for Under-Display Camera via Dictionary Guided Transformer

By hiding the front-facing camera below the display panel, Under-Display Camera (UDC) provides users with a full-screen experience. However, due to the characteristics of the display, images taken by UDC suffer from significant quality degradation. Methods have been proposed to tackle UDC image restoration and advances have been achieved. There are still no specialized methods and datasets for restoring UDC face images, which may be the most common problem in the UDC scene. To this end, considering color filtering, brightness attenuation, and diffraction in the imaging process of UDC, we propose a two-stage network UDC Degradation Model Network named UDC-DMNet to synthesize UDC images by modeling the processes of UDC imaging. Then we use UDC-DMNet and high-quality face images from FFHQ and CelebA-Test to create UDC face training datasets FFHQ-P/T and testing datasets CelebA-Test-P/T for UDC face restoration. We propose a novel dictionary-guided transformer network named DGFormer. Introducing the facial component dictionary and the characteristics of the UDC image in the restoration makes DGFormer capable of addressing blind face restoration in UDC scenarios. Experiments show that our DGFormer and UDC-DMNet achieve state-of-the-art performance

Low-carbon design optimization of reinforced concrete building structures using genetic algorithm

Embodied carbon emissions are getting increased attention to realize low-carbon buildings. Low-carbon designs have been explored by conducting both member-level and structure-level analyses for concrete structures. However, methods for combining two-tiered research need to be further developed to reduce the cost of design optimization. This study aims to propose a hybrid iterative approach for the low-carbon optimization of concrete framed structures. Accordingly, the integrated structural analysis was applied to design the initial scheme, subproject-based emission assessment was applied to identify the carbon-intensive structural components, and a genetic algorithm was applied to optimize the desired components subjected to relevant design constraints. A case study was made on a residential building to verify the feasibility of the proposed approach. The optimization results indicated that a potential 18.3% and 4.2% reduction in the embodied emissions from the beams and the building main body were achieved, respectively. A further discussion also proposed that an optimized scheme for interior walls using lightweight panels resulted in a 12% reduction in carbon emissions compared to the initial scheme using masonry walls. The proposed method and results can facilitate understanding the low-carbon design optimization of reinforced concrete structures and, therefore, contribute to carbon reduction of the construction industry

Design of low-carbon and cost-efficient concrete frame buildings: a hybrid optimization approach based on harmony search

The development of sustainable building structures has been a crucial measure for carbon reduction. With consideration of both carbon emissions and costs, the sustainable design of building structures is complicated and time consuming for designers. To simplify the process of sustainable design optimization, the present study proposes a multi-objective harmony search algorithm for the design of concrete frame buildings considering low-carbon and cost-efficient requirements. This hybrid method combines structural analysis with local component optimization. Process-based life cycle assessment was used to identify carbon-intensive and high-cost structural members, and these members were optimized using discrete design variables and complicated constraints. Furthermore, a case study was conducted on a four-story frame building, in which the embodied emissions and costs were estimated as 1270.91 tCO2e and 0.67 million USD in the initial design scheme. Beams were identified as the optimization target for this building, and a set of Pareto-optimal solutions was obtained, indicating potential emission and cost reductions of 17.9% and 12.3%, respectively, compared with the initial designs. This study provides an easy and practical approach for the sustainable design of concrete frame buildings and enables designers to better understand building structural optimization from an economic and low-carbon perspective

Flexural Properties of Steel-Bamboo Composite Slabs in Different Connection Methods

This paper presents a study aimed to estimate the flexural performance of profiled steel sheet-bamboo plywood composite slabs as a first step to evaluate its potential application as structural components. Nine specimens were tested to investigate the stability of steel-bamboo composite structure. According to different connection methods, three types of composite slabs were discussed, including pure bonding slabs (PBSs), composite bonding slabs (CBSs), and reinforced composite bonding slabs (RCBS). The result showed that specimens employed multiple composite methods (RCBS) exhibited excellent flexural bearing capacity and stiffness compared with PBS. The increase of bamboo plywood thickness could improve bearing capacity and flexural stiffness of composite slabs, while the reduction of screw spacing could enhance the bearing capacity and ductility of composite slabs. The RCBS, which can provide higher bearing capacity and stiffness and possess excellent deformation capability, are well worth of research and practical application

Soil erosion and corn yield in a cultivated catchment of the Chinese Mollisol region.

Evaluation of soil redistribution rates and influence on crop yield in agricultural catchments is very important information, which can provide a scientific basis for arrangement of soil and water conservation measures and sustainable crop production. In recent decades, the soil erosion has greatly aggravated in the Mollisol region of Northeast China due to unreasonable land management, which in turn has reduced crop yield. The objectives of this study were to investigate the spatial distribution of soil redistribution and the relationship between crop yield and soil redistribute at a catchment of the Chinese Mollisol region. A total of 176 soil samples were collected based on a 200 m by 200 m grid and 4 yr of corn (Zea mays L.) yields were measured. The 137Cs trace technique and Zhang Xinbao's mass balance model indicated that the soil redistribution rates ranged from -7122.25 to 5471.70 t km-2 yr-1 and averaged -830.10 t km-2 yr-1. Soil erosion dominated in the research area. The corn yields for four years ranged from 43.24 to 136.19 kg km-2 and averaged 90.42 kg km-2. The spatial distribution of soil redistribution rates and corn yield showed a similar ribbon and plaque characteristics at the catchment. An equation between corn yield and soil redistribution rates was fitted and showed that there was a significant negative correlation between corn yield and soil erosion rates, while there was no relationship between the corn yield and soil deposition rates. Therefore, effective soil and water conservation measures are urgently needed to increase crop yield and realize sustainable land-use management

QTL mapping of selenium content using a RIL population in wheat

<div><p>Selenium (Se) is an essential trace element that plays various roles in human health. Understanding the genetic control of Se content and quantitative trait loci (QTL) mapping provide a basis for Se biofortification of wheat to enhance grain Se content. In the present study, a set of recombinant inbred lines (RILs) derived from two Chinese winter wheat varieties (Tainong18 and Linmai6) was used to detect QTLs for Se content in hydroponic and field trials. In total, 16 QTLs for six Se content-related traits were detected on eight chromosomes, 1B, 2B, 4B, 5A, 5B, 5D, 6A, and 7D. Of these, seven QTLs were detected at the seedling stage and nine at the adult stage. The contribution of each QTL to Se content ranged from 7.37% to 20.22%. <i>QSsece-7D</i>.<i>2</i>, located between marker loci D-3033829 and D-1668160, had the highest contribution (20.22%). This study helps in understanding the genetic basis for Se contents and will provide a basis for gene mapping of Se content in wheat.</p></div

Microstructure and Mechanical Properties in a Gd-Modified Extruded Mg-4Al-3.5Ca Alloy

In the present study, the microstructure and mechanical properties of a new Mg-4Al-3.5Ca-2Gd (AXE432) alloy are investigated. The microstructure of the as-cast AXE432 alloy consists of α-Mg, C14 (Mg2Ca), and C36((Mg, Al)2Ca) phases. After the heat treatment at 480 °C for 8 h, the C14 with fine lamellar structure changes from narrow stripes to micro-scale particles, and part of the C36 and the C14 dissolve into the α-Mg matrix, with many short needle-shaped C15 (Al2Ca) phase precipitating in the primary a-Mg grains. The AXE432 alloy extruded at a temperature as high as 420 °C exhibits a refined dynamically recrystallized (DRXed) microstructure with grain sizes less than 1.5 ± 0.5 μm and a strong {0001}1¯0> basal texture with a maximum intensity of 5.62. A complex combination of the effects from grain size, texture, second-phase particles, and strain hardening results in balanced mechanical properties, with the tensile yield strength (TYS), ultimate tensile strength (UTS), elongation (El), compressive yield strength (CYS), and ultimate compressive strength (UCS) of 331.4 ± 2.1 MPa, 336.9 ± 3.8 MPa, 16.1 ± 2.3%, 270.4 ± 1.6 MPa and 574.5 ± 12.4 MPa, respectively