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15 pages, 5580 KiB

Open AccessArticle

DANet: A Domain Alignment Network for Low-Light Image Enhancement

by Qiao Li, Bin Jiang, Xiaochen Bo, Chao Yang and Xu Wu

Electronics 2024, 13(15), 2954; https://doi.org/10.3390/electronics13152954 - 26 Jul 2024

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We propose restoring low-light images suffering from severe degradation using a deep-learning approach. A significant domain gap exists between low-light and real images, which previous methods have failed to address with domain alignment. To tackle this, we introduce a domain alignment network leveraging dual encoders and a domain alignment loss. Specifically, we train two dual encoders to transform low-light and real images into two latent spaces and align these spaces using a domain alignment loss. Additionally, we design a Convolution-Transformer module (CTM) during the encoding process to comprehensively extract both local and global features. Experimental results on four benchmark datasets demonstrate that our proposed A Domain Alignment Network(DANet) method outperforms state-of-the-art methods. Full article

(This article belongs to the Topic Computer Vision and Image Processing, 2nd Edition)

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14 pages, 1826 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Thermal Tolerance of Cyclops bohater (Crustacea: Copepoda); Selection of Optimal and Avoided Conditions in Experimental Conditions

by Valentina Lazareva, Tatyana Mayor, Olga Malysheva, Elena Medyantseva, Svetlana Zhdanova, Andrey Grishanin and Vladimir Verbitsky

Diversity 2022, 14(12), 1106; https://doi.org/10.3390/d14121106 - 12 Dec 2022

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 2264

Abstract

Temperature adaptations of ectothermic species as well as the plasticity of their thermal strategies are important for survival during temperature fluctuations, in particular, caused by global warming. The critical thermal maximum (CTM)—the values of the water temperature at which heat shock was noted (loss of motor activity in case of copepods) was determined under laboratory conditions. The “chronic” method was used to identify the temperature preferences of the copepods in which a group of test organisms are placed into a thermogradient apparatus. The main result is that in the experiment for individuals of the summer generation C. bohater, the optimal thermal conditions (FTP) were within 6–11 °C. Summer generation of this copepod in natural water bodies develops at a temperature of 5–12 °C, which is close to FTP in the experiment. At the same time, the thermal resistance of C. bohater (CTM 31.5 °C) was found to be the lowest among the species of the genus Cyclops. The differences between the thermal preferences of the winter and summer generations expand the temperature of normal performance (TNP) range and indicate a high physiological plasticity of the C. bohater population. This property is likely to allow C. bohater to survive as the climate continues to warm. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances in the Diversity and Ecology of Zooplankton)

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18 pages, 733 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Enhancing Existing Formal Home Care to Improve and Maintain Functional Status in Older Adults: Results of a Feasibility Study on the Implementation of Care to Move (CTM) in an Irish Healthcare Setting

by Frances Horgan, Vanda Cummins, Dawn A. Skelton, Frank Doyle, Maria O’Sullivan, Rose Galvin, Elissa Burton, Jan Sorensen, Samira Barbara Jabakhanji, Bex Townley, Debbie Rooney, Gill Jackson, Lisa Murphy, Lauren Swan, Mary O’Neill and Austin Warters

Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2022, 19(18), 11148; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph191811148 - 6 Sep 2022

Cited by 2 | Viewed by 3459

Abstract

Background: Care to Move (CTM) provides a series of consistent ‘movement prompts’ to embed into existing movements of daily living. We explored the feasibility of incorporating CTM approaches in home care settings. Methods: Feasibility study of the CTM approach in older adults receiving home care. Recruitment, retention and attrition (three time points), adherence, costs to deliver and data loss analyzed and differentiated pre and post the COVID-19 pandemic. Secondary outcomes, including functional status, physical activity, balance confidence, quality of life, cost to implement CTM. Results: Fifty-five home care clients (69.6% of eligible sample) participated. Twenty were unable to start due to COVID-19 disruptions and health issues, leaving 35 clients recruited, mostly women (85.7%), mean age 82.8 years. COVID-19 disruption impacted on the study, there was 60% retention to T2 assessments (8-weeks) and 13 of 35 (37.1%) completed T3 assessments (6-months). There were improvements with small to medium effect sizes in quality of life, physical function, balance confidence and self-efficacy. Managers were supportive of the roll-out of CTM. The implementation cost was estimated at EUR 280 per carer and annual running costs at EUR 75 per carer. Conclusion: Embedding CTM within home support services is acceptable and feasible. Data gathered can power a definitive trial. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Physiotherapy and Rehabilitation as Modern-Day Medical Challenge in Older Adults)

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20 pages, 13948 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Cell-to-Module Simulation Analysis for Optimizing the Efficiency and Power of the Photovoltaic Module

by Hasnain Yousuf, Muhammad Aleem Zahid, Muhammad Quddamah Khokhar, Jinjoo Park, Minkyu Ju, Donggun Lim, Youngkuk Kim, Eun-Chel Cho and Junsin Yi

Energies 2022, 15(3), 1176; https://doi.org/10.3390/en15031176 - 5 Feb 2022

Cited by 12 | Viewed by 4632

Abstract

A 60-cell photovoltaic (PV) module was analyzed by optimizing the interconnection parameters of the solar cells to enhance the efficiency and increase the power of the PV module setup. The cell-to-module (CTM) losses and gains varied substantially during the various simulation iterations. Optimization was performed to inspect and augment the gain and loss parameters for the 60-cell PV module. The power and efficiency of the module were improved by refining several parameters, such as number of busbars, size of the contact pads, interconnected ribbon width, thickness of the core, and distance between the solar cells and strings, to obtain the maximum efficiency of 21.09%; the CTM efficiency achieved was 94.19% for the proposed strategy related to the common interconnection setup of the ribbon-based system. The CTM efficiency was improved by optimizing the geometrical, optical, and electrical parameters precisely, the power enhancement was up to 325.3 W, and a CTM power of 99.1% was achieved from a standard PV module with rectangular ribbon interconnections. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Selected Papers from the 10th Asia-Pacific Forum on Renewable Energy (AFORE 2021))

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7 pages, 1330 KiB

Open AccessFeature PaperArticle

Effects of Reflectance of Backsheets and Spacing between Cells on Photovoltaic Modules

by Hyunsoo Lim, Seong Hyeon Cho, Jiyeon Moon, Da Yeong Jun and Sung Hyun Kim

Appl. Sci. 2022, 12(1), 443; https://doi.org/10.3390/app12010443 - 3 Jan 2022

Cited by 12 | Viewed by 3820

Abstract

In the photovoltaic (PV) module manufacturing process, cell-to-module (CTM) loss is inevitably caused by the optical loss, and it generally leads to the output power loss of about 2~3%. It is known that the CTM loss rate can be reduced by increasing the reflectance of a backsheet and reflective area through widening spaces between the PV cell strings. In this study, multi-busbars (MBB) and shingled PV cells were connected in series, and a mini-module composed of four cells was fabricated with a white and black backsheet to investigate the effects of reflectance of backsheets and space between the PV cells. Moreover, the MBB modules with cell gap spaces of 0.5 mm, 1.5 mm, and 2.5 mm were demonstrated with fixed 3 mm spaces between the strings. The shingled modules with varying spaces from 2 mm to 6 mm were also tested, and our results show that spacing between PV cells and strings should be well-balanced to minimize the CTM loss to maximize the output power (efficiency). Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Selected Papers from GPVC Conferences)

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8 pages, 2803 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Reflection Losses Analysis from Interspacing between the Cells in a Photovoltaic Module Using Novel Encapsulant Materials and Backsheets

by Asma Shamim, Muhammad Noman and Adnan Daud Khan

Materials 2019, 12(13), 2067; https://doi.org/10.3390/ma12132067 - 27 Jun 2019

Cited by 4 | Viewed by 3108

Abstract

Higher efficiency and output power of a photovoltaic (PV) module can be achieved by minimizing cell-to-module (CTM) power losses. CTM losses are mainly dependent on electrical and optical losses. In this work, reflection losses from interspacing of cells with respect to different encapsulant materials and backsheets are evaluated. Two novel encapsulant materials thermoplastic polyolefin (TPO) and polybutadiene ionomer are used, in addition to conventionally used ethylene vinyl acetate (EVA). Moreover, the effect of using these encapsulant materials separately with Tedlar and Aluminum foil as backsheets is realized. It has been observed that TPO in combination with Tedlar presents minimum reflection losses compared to other encapsulant materials. The reflection losses calculated experimentally with polybutadiene ionomer were 5.4% less than the conventionally used EVA, whereas, the reflection losses calculated experimentally with TPO were 5.9% less than the conventionally used EVA. The experimental results obtained are also validated through simulations. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Materials for Photovoltaic Applications)

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