Thyroid nodules,a common disorder in the endocrine system,require accurate segmentation in ultrasound images for effective diagnosis and treatment.However,achieving precise segmentation remains a challenge due to vari...Thyroid nodules,a common disorder in the endocrine system,require accurate segmentation in ultrasound images for effective diagnosis and treatment.However,achieving precise segmentation remains a challenge due to various factors,including scattering noise,low contrast,and limited resolution in ultrasound images.Although existing segmentation models have made progress,they still suffer from several limitations,such as high error rates,low generalizability,overfitting,limited feature learning capability,etc.To address these challenges,this paper proposes a Multi-level Relation Transformer-based U-Net(MLRT-UNet)to improve thyroid nodule segmentation.The MLRTUNet leverages a novel Relation Transformer,which processes images at multiple scales,overcoming the limitations of traditional encoding methods.This transformer integrates both local and global features effectively through selfattention and cross-attention units,capturing intricate relationships within the data.The approach also introduces a Co-operative Transformer Fusion(CTF)module to combine multi-scale features from different encoding layers,enhancing the model’s ability to capture complex patterns in the data.Furthermore,the Relation Transformer block enhances long-distance dependencies during the decoding process,improving segmentation accuracy.Experimental results showthat the MLRT-UNet achieves high segmentation accuracy,reaching 98.2% on the Digital Database Thyroid Image(DDT)dataset,97.8% on the Thyroid Nodule 3493(TG3K)dataset,and 98.2% on the Thyroid Nodule3K(TN3K)dataset.These findings demonstrate that the proposed method significantly enhances the accuracy of thyroid nodule segmentation,addressing the limitations of existing models.展开更多
In the Kigongo area of Mwanza Region,northwest Tanzania,fishmonger Neema Aisha remembers how the morning’s fresh catch would sour while she queued for the ferry,putting her business at risk.
It is difficult to recover chrysocolla from sulfidation flotation which is closely related to the mineral surface composition.In this study,the effects of fluoride roasting on the surface composition of chrysocolla we...It is difficult to recover chrysocolla from sulfidation flotation which is closely related to the mineral surface composition.In this study,the effects of fluoride roasting on the surface composition of chrysocolla were investigated,its impact on sulfidation flotation was explored,and the mechanisms involved in both fluoride roasting and sulfidation flotation were discussed.With CaF_(2)as the roasting reagent,Na_(2)S·9H_(2)O as the sulfidation reagent,and sodium butyl xanthate(NaBX)as the collector,the results of the flotation experiments showed that fluoride roasting improved the floatability of chrysocolla,and the recovery rate increased from 16.87%to 82.74%.X-ray diffraction analysis revealed that after fluoride roasting,approximately all the Cu on the chrysocolla surface was exposed in the form of CuO,which could provide a basis for subsequent sulfidation flotation.The microscopy and elemental analyses revealed that large quantities of"pagoda-like"grains were observed on the sulfidation surface of the fluoride-roasted chrysocolla,indicating high crystallinity particles of copper sulfide.This suggests that the effect of sulfide formation on the chrysocolla surface was more pronounced.X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy revealed that fluoride roasting increased the relative contents of sulfur and copper on the surface and that both the Cu~+and polysulfide fractions on the surface of the minerals increased.This enhances the effect of sulfidation,which is conducive to flotation recovery.Therefore,fluoride roasting improved the effect of copper species transformation and sulfidation on the surface of chysocolla,promoted the adsorption of collectors,and improved the recovery of chrysocolla from sulfidation flotation.展开更多
Adult neurogenesis continuously produces new neurons critical for cognitive plasticity in adult rodents.While it is known transforming growth factor-βsignaling is important in embryonic neurogenesis,its role in postn...Adult neurogenesis continuously produces new neurons critical for cognitive plasticity in adult rodents.While it is known transforming growth factor-βsignaling is important in embryonic neurogenesis,its role in postnatal neurogenesis remains unclear.In this study,to define the precise role of transforming growth factor-βsignaling in postnatal neurogenesis at distinct stages of the neurogenic cascade both in vitro and in vivo,we developed two novel inducible and cell type-specific mouse models to specifically silence transforming growth factor-βsignaling in neural stem cells in(mGFAPcre-ALK5fl/fl-Ai9)or immature neuroblasts in(DCXcreERT2-ALK5fl/fl-Ai9).Our data showed that exogenous transforming growth factor-βtreatment led to inhibition of the proliferation of primary neural stem cells while stimulating their migration.These effects were abolished in activin-like kinase 5(ALK5)knockout primary neural stem cells.Consistent with this,inhibition of transforming growth factor-βsignaling with SB-431542 in wild-type neural stem cells stimulated proliferation while inhibited the migration of neural stem cells.Interestingly,deletion of transforming growth factor-βreceptor in neural stem cells in vivo inhibited the migration of postnatal born neurons in mGFAPcre-ALK5fl/fl-Ai9 mice,while abolishment of transforming growth factor-βsignaling in immature neuroblasts in DCXcreERT2-ALK5fl/fl-Ai9 mice did not affect the migration of these cells in the hippocampus.In summary,our data supports a dual role of transforming growth factor-βsignaling in the proliferation and migration of neural stem cells in vitro.Moreover,our data provides novel insights on cell type-specific-dependent requirements of transforming growth factor-βsignaling on neural stem cell proliferation and migration in vivo.展开更多
The moment a media delegation from the Republic of the Congo arrived at the Othello Kitchenware Museum on 18 November 2025,they were greeted with a vivid show of Guangdong’s industrial strength.Standing before them w...The moment a media delegation from the Republic of the Congo arrived at the Othello Kitchenware Museum on 18 November 2025,they were greeted with a vivid show of Guangdong’s industrial strength.Standing before them was not a typical exhibition hall,but a building shaped like a gleaming stainless-steel cooking pot.展开更多
Amphibious vehicles are more prone to attitude instability compared to ships,making it crucial to develop effective methods for monitoring instability risks.However,large inclination events,which can lead to instabili...Amphibious vehicles are more prone to attitude instability compared to ships,making it crucial to develop effective methods for monitoring instability risks.However,large inclination events,which can lead to instability,occur frequently in both experimental and operational data.This infrequency causes events to be overlooked by existing prediction models,which lack the precision to accurately predict inclination attitudes in amphibious vehicles.To address this gap in predicting attitudes near extreme inclination points,this study introduces a novel loss function,termed generalized extreme value loss.Subsequently,a deep learning model for improved waterborne attitude prediction,termed iInformer,was developed using a Transformer-based approach.During the embedding phase,a text prototype is created based on the vehicle’s operation log data is constructed to help the model better understand the vehicle’s operating environment.Data segmentation techniques are used to highlight local data variation features.Furthermore,to mitigate issues related to poor convergence and slow training speeds caused by the extreme value loss function,a teacher forcing mechanism is integrated into the model,enhancing its convergence capabilities.Experimental results validate the effectiveness of the proposed method,demonstrating its ability to handle data imbalance challenges.Specifically,the model achieves over a 60%improvement in root mean square error under extreme value conditions,with significant improvements observed across additional metrics.展开更多
文摘Thyroid nodules,a common disorder in the endocrine system,require accurate segmentation in ultrasound images for effective diagnosis and treatment.However,achieving precise segmentation remains a challenge due to various factors,including scattering noise,low contrast,and limited resolution in ultrasound images.Although existing segmentation models have made progress,they still suffer from several limitations,such as high error rates,low generalizability,overfitting,limited feature learning capability,etc.To address these challenges,this paper proposes a Multi-level Relation Transformer-based U-Net(MLRT-UNet)to improve thyroid nodule segmentation.The MLRTUNet leverages a novel Relation Transformer,which processes images at multiple scales,overcoming the limitations of traditional encoding methods.This transformer integrates both local and global features effectively through selfattention and cross-attention units,capturing intricate relationships within the data.The approach also introduces a Co-operative Transformer Fusion(CTF)module to combine multi-scale features from different encoding layers,enhancing the model’s ability to capture complex patterns in the data.Furthermore,the Relation Transformer block enhances long-distance dependencies during the decoding process,improving segmentation accuracy.Experimental results showthat the MLRT-UNet achieves high segmentation accuracy,reaching 98.2% on the Digital Database Thyroid Image(DDT)dataset,97.8% on the Thyroid Nodule 3493(TG3K)dataset,and 98.2% on the Thyroid Nodule3K(TN3K)dataset.These findings demonstrate that the proposed method significantly enhances the accuracy of thyroid nodule segmentation,addressing the limitations of existing models.
文摘In the Kigongo area of Mwanza Region,northwest Tanzania,fishmonger Neema Aisha remembers how the morning’s fresh catch would sour while she queued for the ferry,putting her business at risk.
基金financially supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China(No.52374259)the Open Fund of the State Key Laboratory of Mineral Processing Science and Technology,China(No.BGRIMM-KJSKL-2023-11)the Major Science and Technology Projects in Yunnan Province,China(No.202302 AF080004)。
文摘It is difficult to recover chrysocolla from sulfidation flotation which is closely related to the mineral surface composition.In this study,the effects of fluoride roasting on the surface composition of chrysocolla were investigated,its impact on sulfidation flotation was explored,and the mechanisms involved in both fluoride roasting and sulfidation flotation were discussed.With CaF_(2)as the roasting reagent,Na_(2)S·9H_(2)O as the sulfidation reagent,and sodium butyl xanthate(NaBX)as the collector,the results of the flotation experiments showed that fluoride roasting improved the floatability of chrysocolla,and the recovery rate increased from 16.87%to 82.74%.X-ray diffraction analysis revealed that after fluoride roasting,approximately all the Cu on the chrysocolla surface was exposed in the form of CuO,which could provide a basis for subsequent sulfidation flotation.The microscopy and elemental analyses revealed that large quantities of"pagoda-like"grains were observed on the sulfidation surface of the fluoride-roasted chrysocolla,indicating high crystallinity particles of copper sulfide.This suggests that the effect of sulfide formation on the chrysocolla surface was more pronounced.X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy revealed that fluoride roasting increased the relative contents of sulfur and copper on the surface and that both the Cu~+and polysulfide fractions on the surface of the minerals increased.This enhances the effect of sulfidation,which is conducive to flotation recovery.Therefore,fluoride roasting improved the effect of copper species transformation and sulfidation on the surface of chysocolla,promoted the adsorption of collectors,and improved the recovery of chrysocolla from sulfidation flotation.
基金supported by NIH grants,Nos.R01NS125074,R01AG083164,R01NS107365,and R21NS127177(to YL),1F31NS129204-01A1(to KW)and Albert Ryan Fellowship(to KW).
文摘Adult neurogenesis continuously produces new neurons critical for cognitive plasticity in adult rodents.While it is known transforming growth factor-βsignaling is important in embryonic neurogenesis,its role in postnatal neurogenesis remains unclear.In this study,to define the precise role of transforming growth factor-βsignaling in postnatal neurogenesis at distinct stages of the neurogenic cascade both in vitro and in vivo,we developed two novel inducible and cell type-specific mouse models to specifically silence transforming growth factor-βsignaling in neural stem cells in(mGFAPcre-ALK5fl/fl-Ai9)or immature neuroblasts in(DCXcreERT2-ALK5fl/fl-Ai9).Our data showed that exogenous transforming growth factor-βtreatment led to inhibition of the proliferation of primary neural stem cells while stimulating their migration.These effects were abolished in activin-like kinase 5(ALK5)knockout primary neural stem cells.Consistent with this,inhibition of transforming growth factor-βsignaling with SB-431542 in wild-type neural stem cells stimulated proliferation while inhibited the migration of neural stem cells.Interestingly,deletion of transforming growth factor-βreceptor in neural stem cells in vivo inhibited the migration of postnatal born neurons in mGFAPcre-ALK5fl/fl-Ai9 mice,while abolishment of transforming growth factor-βsignaling in immature neuroblasts in DCXcreERT2-ALK5fl/fl-Ai9 mice did not affect the migration of these cells in the hippocampus.In summary,our data supports a dual role of transforming growth factor-βsignaling in the proliferation and migration of neural stem cells in vitro.Moreover,our data provides novel insights on cell type-specific-dependent requirements of transforming growth factor-βsignaling on neural stem cell proliferation and migration in vivo.
文摘The moment a media delegation from the Republic of the Congo arrived at the Othello Kitchenware Museum on 18 November 2025,they were greeted with a vivid show of Guangdong’s industrial strength.Standing before them was not a typical exhibition hall,but a building shaped like a gleaming stainless-steel cooking pot.
基金Supported by the National Defense Basic Scientific Research Program of China.
文摘Amphibious vehicles are more prone to attitude instability compared to ships,making it crucial to develop effective methods for monitoring instability risks.However,large inclination events,which can lead to instability,occur frequently in both experimental and operational data.This infrequency causes events to be overlooked by existing prediction models,which lack the precision to accurately predict inclination attitudes in amphibious vehicles.To address this gap in predicting attitudes near extreme inclination points,this study introduces a novel loss function,termed generalized extreme value loss.Subsequently,a deep learning model for improved waterborne attitude prediction,termed iInformer,was developed using a Transformer-based approach.During the embedding phase,a text prototype is created based on the vehicle’s operation log data is constructed to help the model better understand the vehicle’s operating environment.Data segmentation techniques are used to highlight local data variation features.Furthermore,to mitigate issues related to poor convergence and slow training speeds caused by the extreme value loss function,a teacher forcing mechanism is integrated into the model,enhancing its convergence capabilities.Experimental results validate the effectiveness of the proposed method,demonstrating its ability to handle data imbalance challenges.Specifically,the model achieves over a 60%improvement in root mean square error under extreme value conditions,with significant improvements observed across additional metrics.
