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Creating automated methods for detecting branches in images is crucial for applications like harvesting robots and forest monitoring. However, the tree images encountered in real-world scenarios present significant challenges for branch detection techniques due to issues such as background interference, occlusion, and varying environmental lighting. While there has been notable progress in extracting tree trunks for specific species, research on identifying lateral branches remains limited. The primary challenges include establishing a unified mathematical representation for multi-level branch structures, conducting quantitative analyses, and the absence of suitable datasets to facilitate the development of effective models. This study addresses these challenges by creating a dataset encompassing various tree species, developing annotation tools for multi-level branch structure labeling, designing branch vector representations and quantitative metrics. Building on this foundation, the study introduces an automatic extraction model for multi-level branch structures that utilizes ResNet and a self-attention mechanism, along with a tailored loss function for branch extraction tasks. The study evaluated several model variants through both qualitative and quantitative experiments. Results from different tree images demonstrate that the final model can accurately identify the trunk structure and effectively extract detailed lateral branch structures, offering a valuable tool for applications in this area. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The real world consists of mass phenomena, such as iridescence on thin film and metal oxide layers, that is only explicable by wave optics. Existing research can reproduce such effects with simple point lights or low‐frequency environmental lighting. However, it remains a difficult task to efficiently rendering these effects when near‐field, high‐frequency area lights are involved. This paper presents a high‐fidelity, real‐time rendering algorithm for the iridescence effect under polygonal lights. We introduce a novel set of spherical functions, Monomial‐Gaussians, to accurately fit iridescent materials' reflectance. With a precomputed lookup table, the Monomial‐Gaussians are easily integrated over spherical polygons in linear time. Importance sampling of Monomial‐Gaussians is also supported to efficiently reduce Monte‐Carlo error. Our approach produces accurate renderings of the iridescence effect while still preserving high frame rates. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is an autoimmune disease characterized by the induction of autoreactive T and B cells, which contribute to the release of pathogenic autoantibodies and tissue injury [...], Anti-double-stranded DNA (anti-dsDNA) is closely associated with the inflammatory burden in the brain after ischemic stroke. Here, we studied the inflammatory cascade and investigated the mechanisms behind the pro-inflammatory role of dsDNA in systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). The serum levels of interleukin-1beta (IL-1[bêta]) and IL-6 in SLE patients and the corresponding controls were evaluated using ELISA, and the expression level of caspase-1 was evaluated using quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR). We found that the serum levels of IL-1[bêta] and IL-6 were increased in the SLE patients. The expression of caspase-1 was upregulated and positively correlated with the levels of pro-inflammatory factors. The level of anti-dsDNA was also elevated and positively correlated with the results for the mean fluorescence intensity (MFI) of caspase-1. Additionally, we evaluated the functions of PRKCD encoding protein kinase c delta (PKC[delta])and NLRC4, in vivo, in MRL/Faslpr mice. We found that renal injury was aggravated, and the levels of pro-inflammatory factors were increased in the MRL/Faslpr mice. We also found that increased levels of NLRC4 in the mice exacerbated renal injury and increased the levels of pro-inflammatory factors, whereas inhibition of PKC[delta] had the opposite results. These findings provide unique perspectives on pathogenesis of SLE and indicate that inhibition of anti-dsDNA could attenuate renal inflammatory burden, representing a promising therapeutic opportunity for SLE. Key words: double-stranded DNA antibody, PKC[delta], NLRC4 inflammasome, systemic lupus erythematosus, renal injury. Il a été établi que les anti-ADN double brin (anti-ADNdb) sont étroitement liés à la charge inflammatoire du cerveau après un accident ischémique cérébral. Les auteurs ont étudié ici la cascade inflammatoire en aval des anti-ADN db et étudié les mécanismes de son rôle pro-inflammatoire dans le lupus érythémateux disséminé (LED). Les taux d'IL-1[bêta] et d'IL-6 dans le sérum de patientsatteintsde LED et de témoinsont été évaluéspar ELISA, et l'expression de la caspase-1 a été détectée à l'aide de la qRT-PCR. Les taux d'IL-1[bêta] et d'IL-6 augmentaient dans le sérum des patients atteints de LED. L'expression de la caspase-1 était accrue et positivement corrélée avec les niveaux de facteurs pro-inflammatoires. Les anti-ADNdb étaient également élevés et positivement liés à l'intensité fluorescente moyenne (IFM) de la caspase-1. En outre, des souris MRL/Faslpr ont été utilisées pour détecter l'activité de PRKCD codant la protéine kinase c delta (PKC[delta])etdelaNLRC4in vivo. Chez les souris MRL/Faslpr, le dommage rénal était aggravé et les niveaux de facteurs pro-inflammatoires étaient accrus. Une augmentation de la NLRC4 chez les souris aggravait le dommage rénal et accroissait les niveaux de facteurs proinflammatoires, tandis que l'inhibition de la PKC[delta] contribuait à des tendances opposées. Ces résultats offrent des perspectives uniques sur la pathogenèse du LED et indiquent que l'inhibition des anti-ADNdb pourrait atténuer la charge inflammatoirerénale, ce qui représente une avenue thérapeutique prometteuse pour le LED. [Traduitpar la Rédaction] Mots-clés: anticorps contre l'ADN double brin, PKC[delta], inflammasome NLRC4, lupus érythémateux disséminé, dommage rénal.

The isothermal grain growth behaviour for three Ti microalloyed steels with different Zr contents (0–0.039 wt-%) at different reheating temperatures (1100, 1150, 1200 and 1250 °C) and for holding times (10, 60, 600 and 1800 s) was investigated. Austenite growth model was established to analyse and predict the functional relationship between austenite grains size and austenitising temperature and time during the isothermal austenitising process in the three tested steels, and the influence of Zr was discussed. The results indicate that the activation energy Q and time index n of austenite grains boundary migration in the tested steels decrease with the increase of Zr content. The addition of Zr can inhibit the growth of primary austenite grains at high temperatures. With the increase of Zr content, the trend of average grain size growth of primary austenite becomes smoother. The addition of Zr improves the high-temperature stability of precipitates, resulting in smaller precipitates and stronger pinning effect for austenite grains boundary in Ti–Zr microalloyed steel compared to that in Ti microalloyed steel at high temperatures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Author(s): Pingzhao Zhang [1, 2]; Dejie Wang [3, 4, 5]; Yu Zhao [3]; Shancheng Ren [6]; Kun Gao [1]; Zhenqing Ye [7]; Shangqian Wang [8]; Chun-Wu Pan [3]; Yasheng Zhu [...]