Light Field Salient Object Detection: A Review and Benchmark

Salient object detection (SOD) is a long-standing research topic in computer vision and has drawn an increasing amount of research interest in the past decade. This paper provides the first comprehensive review and benchmark for light field SOD, which has long been lacking in the saliency community. Firstly, we introduce preliminary knowledge on light fields, including theory and data forms, and then review existing studies on light field SOD, covering ten traditional models, seven deep learning-based models, one comparative study, and one brief review. Existing datasets for light field SOD are also summarized with detailed information and statistical analyses. Secondly, we benchmark nine representative light field SOD models together with several cutting-edge RGB-D SOD models on four widely used light field datasets, from which insightful discussions and analyses, including a comparison between light field SOD and RGB-D SOD models, are achieved. Besides, due to the inconsistency of datasets in their current forms, we further generate complete data and supplement focal stacks, depth maps and multi-view images for the inconsistent datasets, making them consistent and unified. Our supplemental data makes a universal benchmark possible. Lastly, because light field SOD is quite a special problem attributed to its diverse data representations and high dependency on acquisition hardware, making it differ greatly from other saliency detection tasks, we provide nine hints into the challenges and future directions, and outline several open issues. We hope our review and benchmarking could help advance research in this field. All the materials including collected models, datasets, benchmarking results, and supplemented light field datasets will be publicly available on our project site https://github.com/kerenfu/LFSOD-Survey

Magnetic field distribution in a WPT system for electric vehicle charging

The objective of this paper is to discuss major factors that affect the magnetic field distribution of a wireless power transfer (WPT) system for electric vehicle (EV) charging. Both analytical and simulation approaches with a 3D finite element method (FEM) are employed to analyze the flux distribution in the system and its surroundings. The purpose of the work is to provide design guidelines for an efficient WPT system that conforms to international standards on safety and radiated EMI. To verify the obtained results, a full-scale prototype is built and tested up to 20kW power level. On the sending side, the system contains a PFC rectifier followed by a multiphase series resonant inverter connected to a transmitting coil. The receiving side is comprised of a magnetically coupled receiving coil tuned with a series-connected capacitor and a rectifier with a resistive load to emulate a battery. The coils are of a rectangular shape with 70 cm outer dimension, wound with 7 turns of litz wire, shielded with a layer of ferrite, and supported with aluminium plates. The receiving coil is attached to a steel plate that emulates a car chassis. The operating frequency of the system is 85 kHz. The calculations, simulations, and measurements are performed at various power levels and variable gap between coils (from 100mm to 300 mm). Furthermore, the effect of the coil misalignment on the magnetic field is analyzed and discussed based on two different misalignment situations. The theoretical and simulation results of this paper are in a good agreement with experimental measurements which validates the presented methodology

Homozygous p.Ser267Phe in SLC10A1 is associated with a new type of hypercholanemia and implications for personalized medicine.

SLC10A1 codes for the sodium-taurocholate cotransporting polypeptide (NTCP), which is a hepatocellular transporter for bile acids (BAs) and the receptor for hepatitis B and D viruses. NTCP is also a target of multiple drugs. We aimed to evaluate the medical consequences of the loss of function mutation p.Ser267Phe in SLC10A1. We identified eight individuals with homozygous p.Ser267Phe mutation in SLC10A1 and followed up for 8-90 months. We compared their total serum BAs and 6 species of BAs with 170 wild-type and 107 heterozygous healthy individuals. We performed in-depth medical examinations and exome sequencing in the homozygous individuals. All homozygous individuals had persistent hypercholanemia (P = 5.8 × 10-29). Exome sequencing excluded the involvement of other BA metabolism-associated genes in the hypercholanemia. Although asymptomatic, all individuals had low vitamin D levels. Of six adults that were subjected to bone mineral density analysis, three presented with osteoporosis/osteopenia. Sex hormones and blood lipids were deviated in all subjects. Homozygosity of p.Ser267Phe in SLC10A1 is associated with asymptomatic hypercholanemia. Individuals with homozygous p.Ser267Phe in SLC10A1 are prone to vitamin D deficiency, deviated sex hormones and blood lipids. Surveillance of these parameters may also be needed in patients treated with drugs targeting NTCP.This project is supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (31471193, 81570539, 81370535, 91331204 and 31525014). S.X. acknowledges financial support from the Strategic Priority Research Program (XDB13040100) and Key Research Program of Frontier Sciences (QYZDJ-SSW-SYS009) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS)

Mapping the Binding between the Tetraspanin Molecule (Sjc23) of Schistosoma japonicum and Human Non-Immune IgG

BACKGROUND: Schistosomal parasites can establish parasitization in a human host for decades; evasion of host immunorecognition including surface masking by acquisition of host serum components is one of the strategies explored by the parasites. Parasite molecules anchored on the membrane are the main elements in the interaction. Sjc23, a member of the tetraspanin (TSP) family of Schistosoma japonicum, was previously found to be highly immunogenic and regarded as a vaccine candidate against schistosomiasis. However, studies indicated that immunization with Sjc23 generated rapid antibody responses which were less protective than that with other antigens. The biological function of this membrane-anchored molecule has not been defined after decades of vaccination studies. METHODOLOGY AND PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: In this study, we explored affinity pull-down and peptide competition assays to investigate the potential binding between Sjc23 molecule and human non-immune IgG. We determined that Sjc23 could bind human non-immune IgG and the binding was through the interaction of the large extra-cellular domain (LED) of Sjc23 (named Sjc23-LED) with the Fc domain of human IgG. Sjc23 had no affinity to other immunoglobulin types. Affinity precipitation (pull-down assay) in the presence of overlapping peptides further pinpointed to a 9-amino acid motif within Sjc23-LED that mediated the binding to human IgG. CONCLUSION AND SIGNIFICANCE: S. japonicum parasites cloak themselves through interaction with human non-immune IgG, and a member of the tetraspanin family, Sjc23, mediated the acquisition of human IgG via the interaction of a motif of 9 amino acids with the Fc domain of the IgG molecule. The consequence of this interaction will likely benefit parasitism of S. japonicum by evasion of host immune recognition or immunoresponses. This is the first report that an epitope of schistosomal ligand and its immunoglobulin receptor are defined, which provides further evidence of immune evasion strategy adopted by S. japonicum

Control-oriented modeling of wireless power transfer systems with phase-shift control

International audienceThis paper investigates control-oriented modeling of a class of wireless power transfer systems with a phase-shift controlled inverter. Two methods are studied: the conventional analytical modeling method which is based on physical laws, and the refined instrumental variable method which is based on sampled data. It shows that the former provides good physical insights into the system, and that the resulting models are accurate when the true circuit component parameters are known. However, poor results may be obtained if this condition is not satisfied. By contrast, the later provides a cheap solution for accurate modeling, which requires a set of sampled input-output data only and the resulting model can capture very well the dynamic behavior of the system within its operating range. To have virtues of both methods, it is therefore suggested to use them as a combination, that is, using the analytical method to determine the model order while using the data-driven method to estimate the model parameters. All results derived in this paper are verified by means of both numerical simulation and experimental validation

Marginal scorch caused by Alternaria alternata on Purple-Caitai (Brassia campestris L. ssp. chinensis L.var. utilis Tsen et Lee) in China

A new disease was detected in Purple-Caitai (Brassia campestris L. ssp. chinensis L.var. utilis Tsen et Lee) on the high mountain in Hubei, China. On the basis of morphological and cultural features, the pathogen was identified as Alternaria alternata. The internal transcribed spacer (ITS)-rDNA sequence of a representative Alternaria isolate from Purple-Caitai showed 99% identity with other ITS sequences of different Alternaria alternata isolates available in GenBank, thus confirming the morpho-cultural identification. Koch′s postulates were fulfilled by pathogenicity tests on potted Purple-Caitai seedlings. To our knowledge, this report is the first of marginal scorch on Purple-Caitai caused by Alternaria alternata.Keywords: Purple-Caitai, marginal scorch, Alternaria alternataAfrican Journal of Biotechnology Vol. 12(6), pp. 544-54

Application of Gelatin in Food Packaging: A Review

Owing to the increasing environmental concerns and requirements for high-quality foods, edible films and coatings (based on proteins, polysaccharides, natural phenolic active substances, etc.) are being developed as effective alternatives to traditional plastic packaging. Gelatin is extracted from collagen. It is an ideal material for food packaging due to its versatile advantages such as low price, polymerization, biodegradability, good antibacterial and antioxidant properties, etc. However, gelatin film exists poor waterproof and mechanical properties, which limit its developments and applications in food packaging. Previous studies show that pure gelatin can be modified by adding active ingredients and incorporating them with bio-polymers to improve its mechanical properties, aiming to achieve the desirable effect of preservation. This review mainly shows the preparation and molding ways of gelatin-based edible films and the applications of gelatin modified with other biopolymers. Furthermore, this review provides the latest advances in gelatin-based biodegradable packaging and food applications that exhibit outstanding advantages in food preservation