Search Results (14)

Single-image super-resolution refers to the reconstruction of a high-resolution image from a single low-resolution observation. Although recent deep learning-based methods have demonstrated notable success on simulated datasets—with low-resolution images obtained by degrading and downsampling high-resolution ones—they frequently fail to generalize to real-world settings, such as document scans, which are affected by complex degradations and semantic variability. In this study, we introduce a task-driven, multi-task learning framework for training a super-resolution network specifically optimized for optical character recognition tasks. We propose to incorporate auxiliary loss functions derived from high-level vision tasks, including text detection using the connectionist text proposal network (CTPN), text recognition via a convolutional recurrent neural network (CRNN), keypoints localization using Key.Net, and hue consistency. To balance these diverse objectives, we employ a dynamic weight averaging (DWA) mechanism, which adaptively adjusts the relative importance of each loss term based on its convergence behavior. Experimental evaluation demonstrates that the proposed approach improves text detection, measured with intersection over union, by 1.09% for simulated and 1.94% for real-world datasets containing scanned documents, while preserving overall image fidelity. These improvements are statistically significant as confirmed by the Kruskal–Wallis H test and the post hoc Dunn test with Benjamini–Hochberg p-value correction. Our findings highlight the value of multi-objective optimization in super-resolution models for bridging the gap between simulated training regimes and practical deployment in real-world scenarios. Full article

This study introduces an enhanced Predictive Dynamic Window Approach (P-DWA), developed as an offline trajectory planner for simulation-based analysis. The algorithm predicts nine candidate trajectories per iteration, evaluates their temporal and kinematic feasibility, and selects the top three based on energy efficiency. Results show an average reduction of approximately 9% in energy consumption compared to the traditional P-DWA, while maintaining efficient computational performance with average iteration times ranging from 15.6 ms to 18.5 ms. However, this gain in energy efficiency typically requires more iterations to complete a path, reflecting the algorithm’s more conservative motion strategy. The trade-off between energy savings and total simulation time underscores the value of this approach for testing sustainable navigation strategies. Overall, the proposed P-DWA provides a valuable tool for offline trajectory generation in autonomous mobile robotics, supporting energy-aware path planning under controlled simulation environments. Full article

This paper quantifies the annual dynamics of the shortwave radiation reflected from bare arable land as a result of smoothing previously plowed land located in three different agricultural subregions of the European Union and associated countries. This estimate takes into account the annual variation of the bare arable land area, obtained from Sentinel 2 satellite imagery; the spatial variability of soil units within croplands, obtained from digital soil and land-cover maps; and the laboratory spectral reflectance characteristics of these units, obtained from soil samples stored in the LUCAS soil database. The properties of the soil units, which cover an area of at least 4% of each subregion, were characterized. The highest amounts of shortwave radiation reflected under clear-sky conditions from air-dried, bare arable land surfaces—approximately 850 PJ day⁻¹ and 1.10 EJ day⁻¹ for land shaped by a plow (Pd) and smoothing harrow (Hs), respectively—were found in the summer around 8 August in the western subregion. However, the lowest radiation occurred in the spring on 10 April at 340 PJ day⁻¹ for Pd and 430 PJ day⁻¹ for Hs in the central subregion. The largest and the smallest amounts of this radiation throughout the year—only as a result of smoothing, by Hs, land that was previously treated by Pd—was estimated at 42 EJ for the western and southern subregions and 19 EJ for the central subregion, respectively. Full article

In hyperspectral image classification (HSIC), every pixel of the HSI is assigned to a land cover category. While convolutional neural network (CNN)-based methods for HSIC have significantly enhanced performance, they encounter challenges in learning the relevance of deep semantic features and grappling with escalating computational costs as network depth increases. In contrast, the transformer framework is adept at capturing the relevance of high-level semantic features, presenting an effective solution to address the limitations encountered by CNN-based approaches. This article introduces a novel adaptive learnable spectral–spatial fusion transformer (ALSST) to enhance HSI classification. The model incorporates a dual-branch adaptive spectral–spatial fusion gating mechanism (ASSF), which captures spectral–spatial fusion features effectively from images. The ASSF comprises two key components: the point depthwise attention module (PDWA) for spectral feature extraction and the asymmetric depthwise attention module (ADWA) for spatial feature extraction. The model efficiently obtains spectral–spatial fusion features by multiplying the outputs of these two branches. Furthermore, we integrate the layer scale and DropKey into the traditional transformer encoder and multi-head self-attention (MHSA) to form a new transformer with a layer scale and DropKey (LD-Former). This innovation enhances data dynamics and mitigates performance degradation in deeper encoder layers. The experiments detailed in this article are executed on four renowned datasets: Trento (TR), MUUFL (MU), Augsburg (AU), and the University of Pavia (UP). The findings demonstrate that the ALSST model secures optimal performance, surpassing some existing models. The overall accuracy (OA) is 99.70%, 89.72%, 97.84%, and 99.78% on four famous datasets: Trento (TR), MUUFL (MU), Augsburg (AU), and University of Pavia (UP), respectively. Full article

Utilizing multi-modal data, as opposed to only hyperspectral image (HSI), enhances target identification accuracy in remote sensing. Transformers are applied to multi-modal data classification for their long-range dependency but often overlook intrinsic image structure by directly flattening image blocks into vectors. Moreover, as the encoder deepens, unprofitable information negatively impacts classification performance. Therefore, this paper proposes a learnable transformer with an adaptive gating mechanism (AGMLT). Firstly, a spectral–spatial adaptive gating mechanism (SSAGM) is designed to comprehensively extract the local information from images. It mainly contains point depthwise attention (PDWA) and asymmetric depthwise attention (ADWA). The former is for extracting spectral information of HSI, and the latter is for extracting spatial information of HSI and elevation information of LiDAR-derived rasterized digital surface models (LiDAR-DSM). By omitting linear layers, local continuity is maintained. Then, the layer Scale and learnable transition matrix are introduced to the original transformer encoder and self-attention to form the learnable transformer (L-Former). It improves data dynamics and prevents performance degradation as the encoder deepens. Subsequently, learnable cross-attention (LC-Attention) with the learnable transfer matrix is designed to augment the fusion of multi-modal data by enriching feature information. Finally, poly loss, known for its adaptability with multi-modal data, is employed in training the model. Experiments in the paper are conducted on four famous multi-modal datasets: Trento (TR), MUUFL (MU), Augsburg (AU), and Houston2013 (HU). The results show that AGMLT achieves optimal performance over some existing models. Full article

This longitudinal study used diet-wide association studies (DWAS) to investigate the association between diverse dietary food and nutrient intakes and the onset of type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). Out of 502,505 participants from the UK Biobank, 119,040 with dietary data free of T2DM at the baseline were included, and 3241 developed T2DM during a median follow-up of 11.7 years. The DWAS analysis, which is based on Cox regression models, was used to analyse the associations between dietary food or nutrient intake factors and T2DM risk. The study found that 10 out of 225 dietary factors were significantly associated with the T2DM risk. Total alcohol (HR = 0.86, 0.85–0.92, p = 1.26 × 10⁻³²), red wine (HR = 0.89, 0.88–0.94, p = 7.95 × 10⁻¹⁹), and fresh tomatoes (HR = 0.92, 0.89–0.94, p = 2.3 × 10⁻¹¹) showed a negative association with T2DM risk, whereas sliced buttered bread exhibited a positive association. Additionally, 5 out of 21 nutrient intake variables revealed significant associations with the T2DM risk, with iron having the highest protective effect and starch as a risk factor. In conclusion, DWAS is an effective method for discovering novel associations when exploring numerous dietary variables simultaneously and could provide valuable insight into future dietary guidance for T2DM. Full article

The aim is to evaluate the feasibility of ultra-hypofractionated (UH) SBRT with CyberKnife^® (CK) radiosurgery (Accuray Inc., Sunnyvale, California, USA) for localized prostate cancer (PCa) with a concomitant focal boost to the dominant intraprostatic lesion (DIL). Patients with intermediate/high-risk PCa, with at least one visible DIL on multi-parametric MRI, were included. For each, two CK-SBRT in silico plans were calculated using 95% and 85% isodose lines (CK-95%, CK-85%) and compared with the UH-DWA plan delivered with VERO^®. All plans simulated a SIB prescription of 40 Gy to PTV-DIL and 36.25 Gy to the whole prostate (PTV-prostate) in five fractions every other day. Fifteen patients were considered. All plans reached the primary planning goal (D95% > 95%) and compliance with organs at risk (OARs) constraints. DVH metrics median values increased (p < 0.05) from UH-DWA to CK-85%. The conformity index of PTV-DIL was 1.00 for all techniques, while for PTV-prostate was 0.978, 0.984, and 0.991 for UH-DWA, CK-95%, and CK-85%, respectively. The CK-85% plans were able to reach a maximum dose of 47 Gy to the DIL while respecting OARs constraints. CK-SBRT plus a focal boost to the DIL for localized PCa appears to be feasible. These encouraging dosimetric results are to be confirmed in upcoming clinical trials such as the phase-II “PRO-SPEED” IEO trial. Full article

The Pseudomonas chlororaphis phylogenetic subgroup of species, within the Pseudomonas fluorescens group, currently includes seven bacterial species, all of which have environmental relevance. Phylogenomic analyses help clarify the taxonomy of strains in the group and allow for precise identification. Thirteen antibiotic-resistant strains isolated in a previous study from nine different sampling sites in the Danube River were suspected to represent a novel species and are investigated taxonomically in the present study, together with four other strains isolated from the Woluwe River (Belgium) that were phylogenetically closely related in their rpoD gene sequences. The strains were characterized phenotypically, chemotaxonomically (fatty acid composition and main protein profiles), and phylogenetically. They could not be assigned to any known Pseudomonas species. Three genomes of representative strains were sequenced and analyzed in the context of the genome sequences of closely related strains available in public databases. The phylogenomic analysis demonstrates the need to differentiate new genomic species within the P. chlororaphis subgroup and that Pseudomonas piscis and Pseudomonas aestus are synonyms. This taxonomic study demonstrates that 14 of the characterized isolates are members of the Pseudomonas_E protegens_A species in the GTDB taxonomy and that they represent a novel species in the genus Pseudomonas, for which we propose the name Pseudomonas danubii sp. nov. with strain JDS02PS016T (=CECT 30214T = CCUG 74756T) as the type strain. The other three strains (JDS08PS003, rDWA16, and rDWA64) are members of the species Pseudomonas_E protegens_B in the GTDB taxonomy and need further investigation for proposal as a new bacterial species. Full article

The objective of this study was to characterize and compare the dry-aging flavor precursors and their liberation mechanisms in beef aged with different methods. Thirteen paired loins were collected at 5 days postmortem, divided into four sections, and randomly assigned into four aging methods (wet-aging (WA), conventional dry-aging (DA), dry-aging in a water-permeable bag (DWA), and UV-light dry-aging (UDA)). All sections were aged for 28 days at 2 °C, 65% RH, and a 0.8 m/s airflow before trimming and sample collection for chemical, metabolomics, and microbiome analyses. Higher concentrations of free amino acids and reducing sugars were observed in all dry-aging samples (p < 0.05). Similarly, metabolomics revealed greater short-chain peptides in the dry-aged beef (p < 0.05). The DWA samples had an increase in polyunsaturated free fatty acids (C18:2trans, C18:3n3, C20:2, and C20:5; p < 0.05) along with higher volatile compound concentrations compared to other aging methods (aldehyde, nonanal, octanal, octanol, and carbon disulfide; p < 0.05). Microbiome profiling identified a clear separation in beta diversity between dry and wet aging methods. The Pseudomonas spp. are the most prominent bacterial species in dry-aged meat, potentially contributing to the greater accumulation of flavor precursor concentrations in addition to the dehydration process during the dry-aging. Minor microbial species involvement, such as Bacillus spp., could potentially liberate unique and potent flavor precursors. Full article

The Suzuki–Miyaura coupling reaction is one of the most widely utilized C–C bond forming methods to create (hetero)biaryl scaffolds. The continuous-flow reaction using heterogeneous catalyst-packed cartridges is a practical and efficient synthetic method to replace batch-type reactions. A continuous-flow ligand-free Suzuki–Miyaura coupling reaction of (hetero)aryl iodides, bromides, and chlorides with (hetero)aryl boronic acids was developed using cartridges packed with spherical resin (tertiary amine-based chelate resin: WA30)-supported palladium catalysts (7% Pd/WA30). The void space in the cartridge caused by the spherical catalyst structures enables the smooth flow of a homogeneously dissolved reaction solution that consists of a mixture of organic and aqueous solvents and is delivered by the use of a single syringe pump. Clogging or serious backpressure was not observed. Full article

The Plectranthus genus is commonly used in traditional medicine due to its potential to treat several illnesses, including bacterial infections and cancer. As such, aiming to screen the antibacterial and cytotoxic activities of extracts, sixteen selected Plectranthus species with medicinal potential were studied. In total, 31 extracts obtained from 16 Plectranthus spp. were tested for their antibacterial and anticancer properties. Well diffusion method was used for preliminary antibacterial screening. The minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) and minimal bactericidal concentration (MBC) values of the five most active acetonic extracts (P. aliciae, P. japonicus, P. madagascariensis var. “Lynne”, P. stylesii, and P. strigosus) were determined. After preliminary toxicity evaluation on Artemia salina L., their cytotoxic properties were assessed on three human cancer cell lines (HCT116, MCF-7, and H460). These were also selected for mechanism of resistance studies (on NCI-H460/R and DLD1-TxR cells). An identified compound—parvifloron D—was tested in a pair of sensitive and MDR-Multidrug resistance cancer cells (NCI-H460 and NCI-H460/R) and in normal bronchial fibroblasts MRC-5. The chemical composition of the most active extract was studied through high performance liquid chromatography with a diode array detector (HPLC-DAD/UV) and liquid chromatography–mass spectrometry (LC–MS). Overall, P. strigosus acetonic extract showed the strongest antimicrobial and cytotoxic potential that could be explained by the presence of parvifloron D, a highly cytotoxic diterpene. This study provides valuable information on the use of the Plectranthus genus as a source of bioactive compounds, namely P. strigosus with the potential active ingredient the parvifloron D. Full article

Effluents from the paint industry have been a major source of environmental pollution. There is a need to investigate the compliance of wastewater discharged from paint industries with regulatory standards. In response, this study evaluates the physicochemical parameters of both raw and treated wastewater, the wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) efficiencies as well as the compliance level of five selected paint manufacturing companies in Lagos, Nigeria with some regulatory standards: Federal Ministry of Environment (FME) in Nigeria, World Health Organization (WHO) and Department of Water Affairs (DWA) in South Africa. All parameters investigated were analysed using standard methods. The values of pH, electrical conductivity (EC) and total dissolved solids (TDS) levels were in the range of 4–12.2, 149.1–881.3 mS/m and 1100–6510 mg/L, respectively. The range of other parameters include total suspended solids (TSS); 0–2470 mg/L, TS; 1920–6510 mg/L, chloride; 63.8–733.8 mg/L, dissolved oxygen (DO); 0–6.7 mg/L, oil and grease (O & G); 44–100 mg/L, biochemical oxygen demand (BOD); 162.8–974.7 mg/L, chemical oxygen demand (COD); 543–1231 mg/L, nitrates;12.89–211.2 mg/L, phosphate; below detection limit (bdl)–0.02 mg/L, sulphate; 195–1434 mg/L, nickel; bdl–1.9 mg/L while copper, lead and chromium were below detection limits. The results indicated that the WWTPs of the studied paint companies were ineffective in reducing the TS, TSS, BOD, COD and (O & G) to acceptable limits. Routine monitoring of wastewater from paint industries is therefore recommended to prevent the risk of contamination to the receiving watershed which many communities rely on as source for domestic water. Full article

Wastewater treatment facilities are known sources of fresh water pollution. This study was carried out from January to June 2014 to assess the reduction efficiency of some selected contaminants in the Thohoyandou wastewater treatment plant (WWTP). The pH and electrical conductivity of the effluent fell within the South African wastewater discharge guidelines. The WWTP showed the chemical oxygen demand reduction efficiency required by the Department of Water Affairs (DWA) guidelines of 75 mg/L for the months of April and June, although it was below this standard in March and May. Free chlorine concentration varied between 0.26–0.96 mg/L and exceeded the DWA guideline value of 0.25 mg/L. The concentration of nitrate-nitrogen (NO₃⁻ N) in the influent and effluent varied between 0.499–2.31 mg/L and 7.545–19.413 mg/L, respectively. The concentration of NO₃⁻ N in the effluent complied with DWA effluent discharge standard of 15 mg/L, except in April and May. Phosphate concentrations in the influent and effluent were in the ranges of 0.552–42.646 mg/L and 1.572–32.554 mg/L, respectively. The WWTP showed reduction efficiencies of E. coli and Enterococci during some sampling periods but the level found in the effluent exceeded the recommended guideline value of 1000 cfu/100 mL for faecal indicator organisms in wastewater effluents. Consistent removal efficiencies were observed for Al (32–74%), Fe (7–32%) and Zn (24–94%) in most of the sampling months. In conclusion, the Thohoyandou WWTP is inefficient in treating wastewater to the acceptable quality before discharge. Full article

Zastosowanie u chorych na przewlekłą obturacyjną chorobę płuc (POChP) wziewnych leków rozkurczowych z grupy β₂-mimetyków i cholinolityków zapewnia lepszą kontrolę objawów choroby, zmniejsza liczbę zaostrzeń oraz ich nasilenie, zwiększa tolerancję wysiłku i zapewnia lepszą jakość życia. Leki te mają akceptowalny profil bezpieczeństwa. U chorych w umiarkowanym i ciężkim stadium choroby rekomendowane jest zastosowanie skojarzone leków rozkurczowych długodziałających z dwóch grup: beta₂-mimetyków i leków muskarynowych (LABA/LAMA). Pierwszym lekiem z grupy LABA, który działa 24 godziny, a jednocześnie ma bardzo szybki początek działania i który można stosować raz na dobę jest indakaterol. Korzyści z zastosowania indakaterolu zarówno w monoterapii, jak i w skojarzeniu z LAMA wiążą się z uproszczeniem sposobu leczenia. U osób, u których choroba nadal postępuje, i które mają częste zaostrzenia, rekomendowana jest terapia trójlekowa: dwa leki rozkurczowe w połączeniu z wziewnym glikokortykosteroidem (LABA/LAMA/wGKS). W ciężkiej postaci POChP dodanie inhibitora PDE4 - roflumilastu do leku rozkurczowego z grupy LABA lub LAMA poprawia czynność płuc i zmniejsza częstość zaostrzeń. Wpływ dodania roflumilastu na zmniejszenie częstości zaostrzeń jest porównywalny z wynikami, jakie uzyskuje się za pomocą leczenia skojarzonego z wGKS. Wykazano korzystne działanie inhibitorów PDE4, zwłaszcza w połączeniu z innymi lekami. Terapia skojarzona stanowi kolejny krok w optymalizacji leczenia chorych na POChP.
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