Cross-Dataset-Robust Method for Blind Real-World Image Quality Assessment

Although many effective models and real-world datasets have been presented for blind image quality assessment (BIQA), recent BIQA models usually tend to fit specific training set. Hence, it is still difficult to accurately and robustly measure the visual quality of an arbitrary real-world image. In this paper, a robust BIQA method, is designed based on three aspects, i.e., robust training strategy, large-scale real-world dataset, and powerful backbone. First, many individual models based on popular and state-of-the-art (SOTA) Swin-Transformer (SwinT) are trained on different real-world BIQA datasets respectively. Then, these biased SwinT-based models are jointly used to generate pseudo-labels, which adopts the probability of relative quality of two random images instead of fixed quality score. A large-scale real-world image dataset with 1,000,000 image pairs and pseudo-labels is then proposed for training the final cross-dataset-robust model. Experimental results on cross-dataset tests show that the performance of the proposed method is even better than some SOTA methods that are directly trained on these datasets, thus verifying the robustness and generalization of our method.Comment: 10 pages, 6 figure

Exploring Regulation Genes Involved in the Expression of L-Amino Acid Oxidase in Pseudoalteromonas sp. Rf-1

Bacterial L-amino acid oxidase (LAAO) is believed to play important biological and ecological roles in marine niches, thus attracting increasing attention to understand the regulation mechanisms underlying its production. In this study, we investigated genes involved in LAAO production in marine bacterium Pseudoalteromonas sp. Rf-1 using transposon mutagenesis. Of more than 4,000 mutants screened, 15 mutants showed significant changes in LAAO activity. Desired transposon insertion was confirmed in 12 mutants, in which disrupted genes and corresponding functionswere identified. Analysis of LAAO activity and lao gene expression revealed that GntR family transcriptional regulator, methylase, non-ribosomal peptide synthetase, TonB-dependent heme-receptor family, Na⁺/H⁺ antiporter and related arsenite permease, N-acetyltransferase GCN5, Ketol-acid reductoisomerase and SAM-dependent methytransferase, and their coding genes may be involved in either upregulation or downregulation pathway at transcriptional, posttranscriptional, translational and/or posttranslational level. The nhaD and sdmT genes were separately complemented into the corresponding mutants with abolished LAAO-activity. The complementation of either gene can restore LAAO activity and lao gene expression, demonstrating their regulatory role in LAAO biosynthesis. This study provides, for the first time, insights into the molecular mechanisms regulating LAAO production in Pseudoalteromonas sp. Rf-1, which is important to better understand biological and ecological roles of LAAO

Preparation of carbon nanotube/polyaniline nanofiber by electrospinning

AbstractPolyaniline (PANI) is one of the most promising conductive polymers for its cheap and abundant, ease of synthesis, high conductivity and good environmental stability. However the disadvantages, such as insolubility, difficulties in processing and poor mechanical property hinder its application. Carbon nanotube (CNT) was considered as an excellent reinforcing material for its excellent mechanical properties, such as high aspect ratio, high chemical and thermal stability and good conductivity. In this paper, the CNT/PANI composite was prepared from the CNT/aniline nanofiber oxidation, which was obtained by the electrospinning technique. The composite electrochemical performances were characterized by the cyclic voltammogram, galvanostatic charging/discharging and four-probe method. The CNT/PANI composite had excellent application foreground in electrochemical energy field due to large current response, high conductivity and specific capacity