How Does the Low-Rank Matrix Decomposition Help Internal and External Learnings for Super-Resolution

Wisely utilizing the internal and external learning methods is a new challenge in super-resolution problem. To address this issue, we analyze the attributes of two methodologies and find two observations of their recovered details: 1) they are complementary in both feature space and image plane, 2) they distribute sparsely in the spatial space. These inspire us to propose a low-rank solution which effectively integrates two learning methods and then achieves a superior result. To fit this solution, the internal learning method and the external learning method are tailored to produce multiple preliminary results. Our theoretical analysis and experiment prove that the proposed low-rank solution does not require massive inputs to guarantee the performance, and thereby simplifying the design of two learning methods for the solution. Intensive experiments show the proposed solution improves the single learning method in both qualitative and quantitative assessments. Surprisingly, it shows more superior capability on noisy images and outperforms state-of-the-art methods

Designing a behavioral experiment to study the factors underlying procrastination

Procrastination is ubiquitous, but its underlying processes are poorly understood. Studies of procrastination have used self-report questionnaires and therefore have limited use as the basis for process models. As typical procrastination behavior is characterized by a delay in starting the work and rushing in the end, we argue that studies should emphasize the time course of progress. We designed a reading task to quantify the time course of procrastination. Subjects were given seven days to work online on a boring and lengthy reading task. We tested whether reward delay is a predictor of procrastination. We introduce a metric for quantifying the degree of procrastination from the time course of progress. The degree of procrastination tends to be higher in the delayed reward condition than that in the instantaneous condition. We also observed great individual variation in the progress course. Further work needs to investigate what factors contribute to this variability

Effects of reward schedule and pressure on procrastination

Procrastination is ubiquitous, but how to reduce procrastination is rarely examined in a behavioral experiment. We hypothesized that procrastination is reduced when the reward is immediate versus delayed, and that the size of reduction could vary across different levels of pressure on task completion. To test our hypothesis, Subjects were assigned a week to work online on a lengthy reading task. We manipulated the reward timing (delayed versus immediate) and levels of task completion pressure. We quantified the level of procrastination with mean completion day of a paragraph, with a higher value indicating a higher level of procrastination. We found that among subjects who completed the task, there was no main effect of reward timing on procrastination level, whereas subjects who left the task unfinished procrastinated less when reward was immediate. There was no main effect of task completion pressure, and no interaction between reward timing and task completion pressure

Effects of UV, H₂O₂ and Fe³⁺ on the Growth of Four Environmental Isolates of <i>Aeromonas</i> and <i>Vibrio</i> Species from a Mangrove Environment

The Mai Po Nature Reserve and Inner Deep Bay Ramsar site are an important area of unique ecology and high biodiversity. In this study, environmental strains of Aeromonas hydrophila MP-2, A. salmonicida MP-3, Vibrio vulnificus MP-4 and V. cholerae MP-1 were isolated and examined for their responses to UV exposure, ferric (Fe3+) ions and H2O 2 challenge under laboratory conditions. In addition, microbial growth data were used to obtain important parameters of bacterial growth including lag phase, specific growth rate and maximum biomass yield for comparison. It was found that V. vulnificus MP-4 was the most sensitive to UV and Fe3+ treatments. A. salmonicida MP-3 was only inhibited by 100 mM H2O2 while the other three strains did not show any growth at 10 mM H2O 2. Our experimental results indicated that environmental isolates of Aeromonas spp. and Vibrio spp. possess different responses for survival under these treatment conditions.link_to_OA_fulltex

Procrastination and the Intention-Behavior Gap

Procrastination is universal but not monolithic; a second dimension, the Intention–Behavior Gap (IBG), has been suggested to be relevant. The IBG is the difference between one’s intentions and one’s behavior. So far, the IBG has not been directly measured within a behavioral experiment. We assigned subjects a week to work on a lengthy online reading task. Before the task started, subjects reported their plan by the number of reading units for each day. We found great variability in their plans, actual time course and the difference between the two (IBG). The time course of work ranged from completing earlier than planned to not finishing. We calculated correlations between the mean unit completion day, the IBG, the Causal Dimension Scale, indices of regret and satisfaction, and scales for procrastination (General, Active and Irrational). Besides the correlations expected based on definitions, we did not find any significant correlations

sFgl2 gene-modified MSCs regulate the differentiation of CD4+ T cells in the treatment of autoimmune hepatitis

Abstract Background Autoimmune hepatitis (AIH) is a T-cell-mediated autoimmune liver disease that can lead to liver injury and has a poor long-term prognosis. Mesenchymal stromal cells (MSCs) have immunosuppressive effects and can treat AIH. CD4+ T cells express the unique inhibitory Fcγ receptor (FcγRIIB), which is the only receptor for the immunosuppressive factor soluble fibrinogen-like protein 2 (sFgl2). This study aimed to examine the therapeutic effect of sFgl2 gene-modified MSCs (sFgl2-MSCs) on AIH. Methods MSCs were obtained from the inguinal fat of mice and cocultured with CD4+ T cells sorted from mouse spleens. FcγRIIB expression on CD4+ T cells was determined by flow cytometry. sFgl2 expression in MSCs transfected with lentiviral vectors carrying the Fgl2 gene and a green fluorescent protein-encoding sequence was determined by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. The percentages of Th1 cells Th17 cells and regulatory T cells (Tregs) were determined by flow cytometry And the levels of p-SHP2 and p-SMAD2/3 were detected by Western blotting after the cells were cocultured with MSCs for 72 h. After locating MSCs by in vivo imaging Con A-induced experimental AIH mice were randomly divided into 4 groups and administered different treatments. After 24 h histopathological scores liver function and cytokine levels were examined and the proportions of CD4+ T cells CD8+ T cells Tregs Th17 cells and Th1 cells in the spleen and liver were determined by flow cytometry. In addition immunohistochemical staining was used to detect the liver infiltration of T-bet-, Foxp3- and RORγ-positive cells. Results FcγRIIB expression on CD4+ T cells was upregulated after coculture with MSCs. After coculture with sFgl2-MSCs, the proportion of Tregs among CD4+ T cells increased, the proportion of Th17 and Th1 cells decreased, and the levels of p-SHP2 and p-SMAD2/3 increased. In vivo, sFgl2-MSCs significantly improved liver function, decreased liver necrosis area, decreased tumor necrosis factor-α, interleukin (IL)-1β and IL-6 expression, increased IL-10 expression, reduced liver infiltration of CD4+ T and CD8+ T cells, increased the proportion of Tregs and reduced the proportions of Th17 and Th1 cells in mice. Conclusion By promoting Tregs differentiation and inhibiting Th17 and Th1 cell differentiation, sFgl2 gene-modified MSCs have a more powerful therapeutic effect on Con A-induced experimental AIH and may represent a strategy for the clinical treatment of AIH

Waxberry-Like Nanosphere Li4Mn5O12 as High Performance Electrode Materials for Supercapacitors

Porous materials have superior electrochemical performance owing to its their structure, which could increase the specific and contact area with the electrode. The spinel Li4Mn5O12 has a three-dimensional tunnel structure for a better diffusion path, which has the advantage of lithium ion insertion and extraction in the framework. However, multi-space spherical materials with single morphologies are rarely studied. In this work, waxberry-like and raspberry-like nanospheres for Li4Mn5O12 have been fabricated by the wet chemistry and solid-state methods for the first time. The diameter of a single waxberry- and raspberry-like nanosphere is about 1 &mu;m and 600 nm, respectively. The specific capacitance of Li4Mn5O12 was 535 mF cm&minus;2 and 147.25 F g&minus;1 at the scan rate of 2 mV s&minus;1, and the energy density was 110.7 Wh kg&minus;1, remaining at 70% after 5000th charge-discharge cycles. Compared with raspberry-like nanosphere Li4Mn5O12, the waxberry-like nanoporous spinel Li4Mn5O12 shows the better electrochemical performance and stability; furthermore, these electrochemical performances have been improved greatly compared to the previous studies. All these results indicate that the waxberry-like nanoporous spinel Li4Mn5O12 could provide a potential application in high performance supercapacitors