Search Results (17)

With the continuous improvement of reservoir projects and the advancement of digital twin basin initiatives in China, rapidly and accurately generating long-term practical reservoir operation schedules has become a key priority for stakeholders. This study proposes a Theory-guided Long Short-Term Memory (TgLSTM) model to extract optimal reservoir operation rules accurately and reliably. Concretely, TgLSTM integrates data-fitting accuracy with the physical constraints of an operation, e.g., water level constraints and minimal discharge constraints, to address the low credibility often observed in conventional LSTM networks. Using the Three Gorges Reservoir during the dry season as a case study, a multi-year hydrological series optimized by particle swarm optimization (PSO) was used to train the TgLSTM network and derive optimized operation rules. Results show that TgLSTM efficiently generates operation schemes close to the theoretical optimum, achieving power generations of 4.27 × 10¹⁰ kW·h and 4.19 × 10¹⁰ kW·h in two test years, with deviations of only 4.20% and 2.33%, respectively. Compared to traditional LSTM models, TgLSTM is more reliable as it captures key operational characteristics such as terminal water levels and water level fluctuations, maintaining an average ten-day drawdown depth below 1.5 m—significantly lower than the 7 m fluctuations observed with conventional LSTM. Furthermore, comparative analyses against SwR, BP–ANN, and SVM confirm that TgLSTM offers a moderate performance in absolute metrics but is the best to simulate the constrained reservoir operation. Full article

Face recognition (FR) is a less intrusive biometrics technology with various applications, such as security, surveillance, and access control systems. FR remains challenging, especially when there is only a single image per person as a gallery dataset and when dealing with variations like pose, illumination, and occlusion. Deep learning techniques have shown promising results in recent years using VAE and GAN, with approaches such as patch-VAE, VAE-GAN for 3D Indoor Scene Synthesis, and hybrid VAE-GAN models. However, in Single Sample Per Person Face Recognition (SSPP FR), the challenge of learning robust and discriminative features that preserve the subject’s identity persists. To address these issues, we propose a novel framework called AD-VAE, specifically for SSPP FR, using a combination of variational autoencoder (VAE) and Generative Adversarial Network (GAN) techniques. The proposed AD-VAE framework is designed to learn how to build representative identity-preserving prototypes from both controlled and wild datasets, effectively handling variations like pose, illumination, and occlusion. The method uses four networks: an encoder and decoder similar to VAE, a generator that receives the encoder output plus noise to generate an identity-preserving prototype, and a discriminator that operates as a multi-task network. AD-VAE outperforms all tested state-of-the-art face recognition techniques, demonstrating its robustness. The proposed framework achieves superior results on four controlled benchmark datasets—AR, E-YaleB, CAS-PEAL, and FERET—with recognition rates of 84.9%, 94.6%, 94.5%, and 96.0%, respectively, and achieves remarkable performance on the uncontrolled LFW dataset, with a recognition rate of 99.6%. The AD-VAE framework shows promising potential for future research and real-world applications. Full article

In real-world scenarios, posture variation and low-quality image resolution are two well-known factors that compromise the accuracy and reliability of face recognition system. These challenges can be overcome using various methods, including Generative Adversarial Networks (GANs). Despite this, concerns over the accuracy and reliability of GAN methods are increasing as the facial recognition market expands rapidly. The existing framework such as Two-Pathway GAN (TP-GAN) method has demonstrated that it is superior to numerous GAN methods that provide better face-texture details due to its unique deep neural network structure that allows it to perceive local details and global structure in a supervised manner. TP-GAN overcomes some of the obstacle associated with face frontalization tasks through the use of landmark detection and synthesis functions, but it remains challenging to achieve the desired performance across a wide range of datasets. To address the inherent limitations of TP-GAN, we propose a novel face frontalization method (NFF) combining landmark detection, decision forests, and data augmentation. NFF provides 2D landmark detection to integrate global structure with local details of the generator model so that more accurate facial feature representations and robust feature extractions can be achieved. NFF enhances the stability of the discriminator model over time by integrating decision forest capabilities into the TP-GAN discriminator core architecture that allows us to perform a wide range of facial pose tasks. Moreover, NFF uses data augmentation techniques to maximize training data by generating completely new synthetic data from existing data. Our evaluations are based on the Multi-PIE, FEI, and CAS-PEAL datasets. NFF results indicate that TP-GAN performance can be significantly enhanced by resolving the challenges described above, leading to high quality visualizations and rank-1 face identification. Full article

The objective of the present study was to investigate the impact of MgO 0.5 g/kg loaded in different organic waste materials on the properties of the modified biochars obtained. The waste materials included tea waste, wood waste, water chestnut peel, and pomegranate peel, which were used to create tea waste MgO-modified biochar (TWMgO-MBC), wood waste MgO-modified biochar (WSMgO-MBC), water chestnut peel MgO-modified biochar (WCMgO-MBC), and pomegranate peel MgO-modified biochar (PPMgO-MBC). All the MgO-modified biochars were prepared at 600 °C for 2 h and applied at 0.5 and 1% doses for the immobilization of Ni, Cu, Pb, and Cr in stone crushing and mining-polluted soil and the reduction in their uptake by pearl millet (Pennisetum glaucum) plant. The greatest fresh and dry biomasses were observed at 45.04% and 31.29%, respectively, with the application of TWMgO-MBC 1% in stone-crushing-polluted soil. The highest degree of immobilization of Ni (76.67%) was observed for the WSMgO-MBC 1% treatment, Cu (73.45%) for WCMgO-MBC 1%, Pb (76.78%) for WSMgO-MBC 1%, and Cr (70.55%) for WCMgO-MBC 1%, in comparison with the control. The maximum uptake of Ni, Cu, Pb, and Cr in the shoot of pearl millet was reduced by 78.43% with WSMgO-MBC 1%, 75.06% with WSMgO-MBC 1%, 90.81% with WCMgO-MBC 1%, and 85.71% with WSMgO-MBC 1% as compared with the control. The greatest reduction in Ni, Cu, Pb, and Cr in the root of pearl millet was observed at 77.81% with WSMgO-MBC 1%, 68.09% with WCMgO-MBC 1%, 84.03% with WCMgO-MBC 1%, and 88.73% with WCMgO-MBC 1%, in comparison with the control. The present study demonstrated that the TWMgO-MBC 1% treatment was highly effective for improving plant growth, while the WSMgO-MBC 1%, and WCMgO-MBC 1% treatments were found to be highly effective for immobilizing heavy metals in polluted soils, thus facilitating safe crop cultivation. Future studies should concentrate on the long-term application of MgO-modified biochars for the remediation of multimetal-polluted soils. Full article

To determine the optimal salinity of irrigation water for fruit radish cultivated in peat, five levels of salinized water were used to evaluate their effect on the growth and quality of fruit radish (Raphanus sativus L.). Results showed that with an increase in salinity, the leaf growth was somehow inhibited, but the fleshy root growth increased, and quality improved with more soluble solids, sugar, protein, and Vitamin C substances in fleshy roots. With an increase in water salinity up to 4.2 dS/m, the weight of fleshy roots increased by 51.10% with a high increment in the root/shoot ratio. With the same salt concentration, the content of soluble solids in both root peal and pulp was the highest and improved by 11.06% and 6.70%, respectively. The soluble sugar content was the highest in root peals with the 4.2 dS/m treatment and in fleshy roots with the 7.4 dS/m treatment, with a 55.85% and 32.30% increase, respectively. The content of both soluble protein and vitamin C with the 4.2 dS/m treatment increased by 11.99% and 113.36%, respectively. Strong evidence derived from the study has indicated that 4.2 dS/m salinized irrigation water is optimal for growing ‘ice-cream’ fruit radishes and maintaining ultimate root weight and quality. Full article

The variability of the Conditioned Pain Modulation (CPM) effect can be attributed to conditioning stimulus (CS) characteristics, such as intensity, duration, unpleasantness, or affinity. This study investigates the impact of affinity and unpleasantness variables on the CPM effect using two protocols (cold water and ischemia) in the same healthy individuals (n = 54). Additional variables were also examined for their potential influence on the CPM effect. The main results are as follows: (1) a higher level of affinity and a lower level of unpleasantness for the stimuli used resulted in a stronger CPM effect; (2) significant differences were observed in the extreme categories (high and low) of both variables, whereas the ‘indifferent’ group did not show a clear trend; (3) within-subject analysis demonstrated that affinity for the CS had a clear impact on the CPM effect; (4) no correlations were found between the CPM effect and the additional variables, except for the extraversion variable with the CPM effect of the ischemia protocol, and CS duration variable with CPM effect in the cold water protocol; and (5) only the affinity variable explained the CPM effect in both protocols in the multiple linear regression analysis. The affinity variable was found to influence the CPM effects significantly, indicating its important role in our perception and response to pain. Full article

Traditional roadway lighting is intended to provide safe guidance for drivers and pedestrians, but the large-scale application of roadway lighting has resulted in significant energy consumption and light pollution. However, road markings prepared by luminous coating are a kind of multi-functional road marking that can meet the needs of highway lighting at night and save energy. Here, CaAl₂O₄:Eu²⁺,Nd³⁺,Gd³⁺ blue long-afterglow phosphor is obtained by the high-temperature solid-state method, and the blue luminescent coating is synthesized by the blending method. The phase composition, microscopic morphology, luminescence properties and water resistance of the phosphor and luminescent coatings are characterized. The best components and processes of the luminescent coating are explored to meet the application of an expressway. Considering the afterglow’s performance, the optimal calcination temperature of the phosphor is determined to be 1300 °C. The afterglow of the phosphor can be over 8 h after 2 h of daylight excitation. The addition of 1.25% SiO₂ to the luminescent coating improves the uniformity of the components, and the incorporation of 3.5% CaCO₃ improves the denseness of the coating. When the coating thickness is 0.8mm, the luminescent coating can achieve the best luminous effect. After 120 h of immersion in water, the afterglow intensity of the luminescent coating reduced to 70% of the original, which has excellent water resistance. The blue luminescent coating with the addition of appropriate amounts of CaCO₃ and SiO₂ improves the dispersion as well as the densification of the components in the coating to achieve the best luminescent effect. In the Shenyang area, different weather conditions (cloudy, sunny, rainy) have no significant effect on the afterglow performance of the luminescent coatings, all of which can achieve over 5 h of afterglow and are suitable for expressways. Full article

A synthesis of the evolution of the Neoproterozoic belts or orogens surrounding the São Francisco craton (SFC) in northeastern and southeastern Brazil is presented. Emphasis is placed on recognizing the superposition of sedimentary basins, from rift to passive margin to retroarc and foreland, as well as identifying three diachronic continental collisions in the formation of the SFC. The Tonian passive margin occurs in the southern Brasília Belt with the Vazante, Canastra, and Araxá Groups. During the Tonian, island magmatic arcs and basins developed in front and behind these arcs (fore- and back-arcs). Subsequently, in the Cryogenian–Ediacaran, a retroarc foreland basin developed with part of the Araxá Group and the Ibiá Group, and finally, a foreland basin developed, which was filled by the Bambuí Group. A tectonic structure of superimposed nappes, with subhorizontal S_1–2 foliation, formed between 650 and 610 Ma, is striking. In the northern Brasília Belt, there is the Stenian passive margin of the Paranoá Group, the Tonian intrusion of the Mafic–Ultramafic Complexes, and the Mara Rosa Island magmatic arc, active since the Tonian, with limited volcanic–sedimentary basins associated with the arc. A thrust–fold belt structure is prominent, with S1 foliation and late transcurrent, transpressive tectonics characterized by the Transbrasiliano (TB) lineament. The Cryogenian–Ediacaran collision between the Paranapanema and São Francisco cratons is the first collisional orogenic event to the west. In the Rio Preto belt, on the northwestern margin of the São Francisco craton, the Cryogenian–Ediacaran Canabravinha rift basin is prominent, with gravitational sediments that represent the intracontinental termination of the passive margin that occurs further northeast. The rift basin was intensely deformed at the Ediacaran–Cambrian boundary, as was the Bambuí Group. On the northern and northeastern margins of the São Francisco craton, the Riacho do Pontal and Sergipano orogens stand out, showing a comparable evolution with Tonian and Cryogenian rifts (Brejo Seco, Miaba, and Canindé); Cryogenian–Ediacaran passive margin, where the Monte Orebe ophiolite is located; and Cordilleran magmatic arcs, which developed between 620 and 610 Ma. In the Sergipano fold belt, with a better-preserved outer domain, gravitational sedimentation occurs with glacial influence. A continental collision between the SFC and the PEAL (Pernambuco-Alagoas Massif) occurred between 610 and 540 Ma, with intense deformation of nappes and thrusts, with vergence to the south and accommodation by dextral transcurrent shear zones, such as the Pernambuco Lineament (PE). The Araçuaí belt or orogen was formed at the southeastern limit of the SFC by a Tonian intracontinental rift, later superimposed by a Cryogenian–Ediacaran rift–passive margin of the Macaúbas Group, with gravitational sedimentation and glacial influence, and distally by oceanic crust. It is overlain by a retroarc basin with syn-orogenic sedimentation of the Salinas Formation, partly derived from the Rio Doce cordilleran magmatic arc and associated basins, such as the Rio Doce and Nova Venécia Groups. A third continental collision event (SF and Congo cratons), at the end of the Ediacaran (580–530 Ma), developed a thrust–fold belt that deforms the sediments of the Araçuaí Belt and penetrates the Paramirim Corridor, transitioning to the south to a dextral strike-slip shear zone that characterizes the Ribeira Belt. Full article

Background: The in-hospital mortality of cardiogenic shock (CS) remains high (28% to 45%). As a result, several studies developed prediction models to assess the mortality risk and provide guidance on treatment, including CardShock and IABP-SHOCK II scores, which performed modestly in external validation studies, reflecting the heterogeneity of the CS populations. Few articles established predictive scores of CS based on Asian people with a higher burden of comorbidities than Caucasians. We aimed to describe the clinical characteristics of a contemporary Asian population with CS, identify risk factors, and develop a predictive scoring model. Methods: A retrospective observational study was conducted between 2014 and 2019 to collect the patients who presented with all-cause CS in the emergency department of a single medical center in Taiwan. We divided patients into subgroups of CS related to acute myocardial infarction (AMI-CS) or heart failure (HF-CS). The outcome was all-cause 30-day mortality. We built the prediction model based on the hazard ratio of significant variables, and the cutoff point of each predictor was determined using the Youden index. We also assessed the discrimination ability of the risk score using the area under a receiver operating characteristic curve. Results: We enrolled 225 patients with CS. One hundred and seven patients (47.6%) were due to AMI-CS, and ninety-eight patients among them received reperfusion therapy. Forty-nine patients (21.8%) eventually died within 30 days. Fifty-three patients (23.55%) presented with platelet counts < 155 × 10³/μL, which were negatively associated with a 30-day mortality of CS in the restrictive cubic spline plot, even within the normal range of platelet counts. We identified four predictors: platelet counts < 200 × 10³/μL (HR 2.574, 95% CI 1.379–4.805, p = 0.003), left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) < 40% (HR 2.613, 95% CI 1.020–6.692, p = 0.045), age > 71 years (HR 2.452, 95% CI 1.327–4.531, p = 0.004), and lactate > 2.7 mmol/L (HR 1.967, 95% CI 1.069–3.620, p = 0.030). The risk score ended with a maximum of 5 points and showed an AUC (95% CI) of 0.774 (0.705–0.843) for all patients, 0.781 (0.678–0.883), and 0.759 (0.662–0.855) for AMI-CS and HF-CS sub-groups, respectively, all p < 0.001. Conclusions: Based on four parameters, platelet counts, LVEF, age, and lactate (PEAL), this model showed a good predictive performance for all-cause mortality at 30 days in the all patients, AMI-CS, and HF-CS subgroups. The restrictive cubic spline plot showed a significantly negative correlation between initial platelet counts and 30-day mortality risk in the AMI-CS and HF-CS subgroups. Full article

This project follows a tradition of survey work undertaken to appraise physical and biological damage in the aftermath of hurricane-strength winds and waves at a given locality where conditions were well documented prior to the arrival of a particular storm. The locality is the 12 m limestone terrace at Arroyo Blanco on the eastern shores of Isla del Carmen in Baja California Sur, Mexico. A study undertaken in February 2018 established that the surface of the terrace is covered by a coastal boulder deposit that features large slabs of limestone pealed from the outer edge by strong surf attributed to storms of hurricane intensity but unknown date. The largest slabs tend to be rectilinear in shape vulnerable to dislodgement along horizonal bedding planes and weaknesses in vertical joints. These blocks are sufficiently large and weigh enough that movement by humans without necessary mechanical equipment would be impossible. Hurricane Kay, rated as a Category 2 storm, struck the island on 8 September 2022 and an effort was made to visit the area for reconnaissance and detailed survey work soon afterwards. Although a Category 2 storm lacked the energy to remobilize the largest limestone slabs on the terrace, it was found that the storm was sufficient to disturb the adjacent seabed and redeposit as many as 44 sea fans onto the terrace by overwash; the sea fans belonged to the species Pacifigorgia adamsi. Moreover, a species of land plant common to the limestone terrace is the Gulf Star Violet (Stenotis mucronate); it suffered significant desiccation and death due to saltwater exposure. The occurrence of large potholes on the limestone terrace represents a style of physical erosion previously undocumented at the locality and rarely seen elsewhere on rocky shores. Full article

Diabetes mellitus is a life-threatening disorder affecting people of all ages and adversely disrupts their daily functions. Despite the availability of numerous synthetic-antidiabetic medications and insulin, the demand for the development of novel antidiabetic medications is increasing due to the adverse effects and growth of resistance to commercial drugs in the long-term usage. Hence, antidiabetic phytochemicals isolated from fruit plants can be a very nifty option to develop life-saving novel antidiabetic therapeutics, employing several pathways and MoAs (mechanism of actions). This review focuses on the antidiabetic potential of commonly available Bangladeshi fruits and other plant parts, such as seeds, fruit peals, leaves, and roots, along with isolated phytochemicals from these phytosources based on lab findings and mechanism of actions. Several fruits, such as orange, lemon, amla, tamarind, and others, can produce remarkable antidiabetic actions and can be dietary alternatives to antidiabetic therapies. Besides, isolated phytochemicals from these plants, such as swertisin, quercetin, rutin, naringenin, and other prospective phytochemicals, also demonstrated their candidacy for further exploration to be established as antidiabetic leads. Thus, it can be considered that fruits are one of the most valuable gifts of plants packed with a wide spectrum of bioactive phytochemicals and are widely consumed as dietary items and medicinal therapies in different civilizations and cultures. This review will provide a better understanding of diabetes management by consuming fruits and other plant parts as well as deliver innovative hints for the researchers to develop novel drugs from these plant parts and/or their phytochemicals. Full article

Developmental language disorder (DLD) is considered a neurodevelopmental disorder that compromises language comprehension and/or expression and constitutes a risk factor for learning to read. The aim of the present study was to analyse the reading strategies used by students with DLD to read sentences. There is evidence in the literature that, when linguistic resources are insufficient, the keyword strategy (identifying some of the words in the sentence with their own semantic content, with barely no processing of the function words) is used to read sentences. A total of 31 primary and secondary school students diagnosed with DLD were evaluated using the PEALE battery. The results reveal that students with DLD present heterogeneous profiles that are below the established reading level for their age. In addition, children with DLD and better reading skills use the keyword strategy to read sentences. In conclusion, clinical and educational implications for reading intervention in individuals with DLD are discussed. Full article

Pearl detection with a counter (PDC) in a noncontact and high-precision manner is a challenging task in the area of commercial production. Additionally, sea pearls are considered to be quite valuable, so the traditional manual counting methods are not satisfactory, as touching may cause damage to the pearls. In this paper, we conduct a comprehensive study on nine object-detection models, and the key metrics of these models are evaluated. The results indicate that using Faster R-CNN with ResNet152, which was pretrained on the pearl dataset, mAP@0.5IoU = 100% and mAP@0.75IoU = 98.83% are achieved for pearl recognition, requiring only 15.8 ms inference time with a counter after the first loading of the model. Finally, the superiority of the proposed algorithm of Faster R-CNN ResNet152 with a counter is verified through a comparison with eight other sophisticated object detectors with a counter. The experimental results on the self-made pearl image dataset show that the total loss decreased to 0.00044. Meanwhile, the classification loss and the localization loss of the model gradually decreased to less than 0.00019 and 0.00031, respectively. The robust performance of the proposed method across the pearl dataset indicates that Faster R-CNN ResNet152 with a counter is promising for natural light or artificial light peal detection and accurate counting. Full article

The construction of large earth/rock fill dams, albeit its remarkable progress, still relies largely on past experiences. Therefore, a comprehensive yet dependable monitoring program is particularly beneficial for guiding the practice. However, conventional measurements can only produce limited discrete data. This paper exploits the potential of the terrestrial laser scanning (TLS) for an accurate inventory of as-built states of a concrete-faced rockfill dam under construction and for a full-field analysis of the 3D deformation pattern over its upstream face. For the former, a well-designed 3D geodetic system, with a particular consideration of the topography, promises a regulated acquisition of high-quality and blind-zone-free point cloud at field and also eases the cumbersome data registration process while maintaining its precision in house. For the latter, a problem-tailored processing pipeline is proposed for deformation extraction. Its core idea is to achieve a highly precise alignment of the point clouds with Iterative Closed Point algorithms from different epochs in datum areas that displays a featured, undeformed geometry at stable positions across epochs. Then, the alignment transformation matrix is applied to the point clouds of respective upstream face for each epoch, followed by pairwise comparisons of multiple adjusted point clouds for deformation evaluation. A processing pipeline is used to exploit the peal scene data redundancy of the GLQ dam acquired at six different epochs. Statistical analysis shows that satisfactory accuracy for deformation detection can be repeatably achieved, regardless of the scanner’s positioning uncertainties. The obtained 3D deformation patterns are characterised by three different zones: practically undeformed, outward and inward deformed zones. Their evolutions comply well with real construction stages and unique 3D valley topography. Abundant deformation results highlight the potential of TLS combined with the proposed data processing pipeline for cost-efficient monitoring of huge infrastructures compared to conventional labor-intense measurements. Full article

Non-edible cellulose-containing biomass is a promising and abundant feedstock for simple sugar production. This study presents the results of different cellulose-containing materials (CCM) hydrolysis experiments with P. verruculosum enzyme complexes in laboratory conditions. Among the non-pretreated substrates, only a few had a relatively high convertibility—soy bean husks (31%) and sugar beat pulp (20%)—while wheat straw, oat husks, sunflower peals, and corn stalks had a low convertibility of 3% to 12%. This indicates that a major part of CCM needs pretreatment. Steam-exploded (with Ca(OH)₂) soy bean and oat husks (76% and 58%), fine ball-milled aspen wood and nitric acid-pretreated aspen wood (62% and 78%), and steam-exploded (with sulfuric acid) corn stalks (55%) had a high convertibility. Woody biomass pretreated with pulp and paper mills also had a high convertibility (56–78%)—e.g., never dried kraft hardwood and softwood pulp (both bleached and unbleached). These results demonstrate that effective cellulose-containing material processing into simple sugars is possible. Simple sugars derived from CCM using P. verruculosum preparation are a promising feedstock for the microbiological production of biofuels (bioethanol and biobutanol), aminoacids, and organic acids (e.g., lactic acid for polylactic acid production). Full article