Radon CLF:A Novel Approach for Skew Detection Using Radon Transform

In the digital world,a wide range of handwritten and printed documents should be converted to digital format using a variety of tools,including mobile phones and scanners.Unfortunately,this is not an optimal procedure,and the entire document image might be degraded.Imperfect conversion effects due to noise,motion blur,and skew distortion can lead to significant impact on the accuracy and effectiveness of document image segmentation and analysis in Optical Character Recognition(OCR)systems.In Document Image Analysis Systems(DIAS),skew estimation of images is a crucial step.In this paper,a novel,fast,and reliable skew detection algorithm based on the Radon Transform and Curve Length Fitness Function(CLF),so-called Radon CLF,was proposed.The Radon CLF model aims to take advantage of the properties of Radon spaces.The Radon CLF explores the dominating angle more effectively for a 1D signal than it does for a 2D input image due to an innovative fitness function formulation for a projected signal of the Radon space.Several significant performance indicators,including Mean Square Error(MSE),Mean Absolute Error(MAE),Peak Signal-to-Noise Ratio(PSNR),Structural Similarity Measure(SSIM),Accuracy,and run-time,were taken into consideration when assessing the performance of our model.In addition,a new dataset named DSI5000 was constructed to assess the accuracy of the CLF model.Both two-dimensional image signal and the Radon space have been used in our simulations to compare the noise effect.Obtained results show that the proposed method is more effective than other approaches already in use,with an accuracy of roughly 99.87%and a run-time of 0.048(s).The introduced model is far more accurate and timeefficient than current approaches in detecting image skew.

Characterization of cuttlebone for a biomimetic design of cellular structures

Cuttlebone is a natural material possessing the multifunctional properties of high porosity, high flexural stiffness and compressive strength, making it a fine example of design optimization of cellular structures created by nature. Examination of cuttlebone using scanning electron micros- copy （SEM） reveals an approximately periodic microstruc- ture, appropriate for computational characterization using direct homogenization techniques. In this paper, volume fractions and stiffness tensors were determined based on two different unit cell models that were extracted from two different cuttlefish samples. These characterized results were then used as the target values in an inverse homogenization procedure aiming to re-generate microstructures with the same properties as cuttlebone. Unit cells with similar topologies to the original cuttlebone unit cells were achieved, attaining the same volume fraction （i.e. bulk density） and the same （or very close） stiffness tensor. In addition, a range of alternate unit cell topologies were achieved also attaining the target properties, revealing the non-unique nature of this inverse homogenization problem.

Environmental temperature effect on dimensional measurements of atomic force microscopy

Atomic force microscopy(AFM)is increasingly being used as a fundamental tool for dimensional measurements at the nanoscale in the laboratory and in industry.Since the environmental temperature is not controlled in many measurements,or is even varied on purpose,quantification of its effects on AFM dimensional measurements is needed.In this paper,the influences of the temperature in the entire environment of the AFM(excluding only the controller and computer)and that in the local environment around the tip–sample are investigated.The results show that lateral dimensional measurements are affected mainly by the entire environmental temperature.However,vertical measurements are influenced by the temperature of both the entire environment and the local environment.The effects become significant for temperatures higher than some threshold,here between 35 and 40 XC.

The LncRNA FEZF1-AS1 promotes tumor proliferation in colon cancer by regulating the mitochondrial protein PCK2

LncRNAs and metabolism represents two factors involved in cancer initiation and progression.However,the interaction between lncRNAs and metabolism remains to be fully explored.In this study,lncRNA FEZF1-AS1(FEZF1-AS1)was found upregulated in colon cancer after screening all the lncRNAs of colon cancer tissues deposited in TCGA,the result of which was further confirmed by RNAscope staining on a colon tissue chip.The results obtained using FEZF1-AS1 knockout colon cancer cells(SW480 KO and HCT-116 KO)constructed using CRISPR/Cas9 system confirmed the proliferation,invasion,and migration-promoting function of FEZF1-AS1 in vitro.Mechanistically,FEZF1-AS1 associated with the mitochondrial protein phosphoenolpyruvate carboxykinase(PCK2),which plays an essential role in regulating energy metabolism in the mitochondria.Knockdown of FEZF1-AS1 greatly decreased PCK2 protein levels,broke the homeostasis of energy metabolism in the mitochondria,and inhibited proliferation,invasion,and migration of SW480 and HCT-116 cells.PCK2 overexpression in FEZF1-AS1 knockout cells partially rescued the tumor inhibitory effect on colon cancer cells both in vitro and in vivo.Moreover,PCK2 overexpression specifically rescued the abnormal accumulation of Flavin mononucleotide(FMN)and succinate,both of which play an important role in oxidative phosphorylation(OXPHOS).Overall,these results indicate that FEZF1-AS1 is an oncogene through regulating energy metabolism of the cell.This research reveals a new mechanism for lncRNAs to regulate colon cancer and provides a potential target for colon cancer diagnosis and treatment.

Distributed Cluster Based 3D Model Retrieval with Map-Reduce

View-based 3D model retrieval methods are attracted intensive research attentions due to the high expression and stable features. In the paper, the bag-of-words (BOW) standardization based SIFT feature were extracted from three projection views of a 3D model, and then the distributed K-means cluster algorithm based on a Hadoop platform was employed to compute feature vectors and cluster 3D models. In order to get precise initial cluster center, the maximum and minimum principle based Canopy algorithm was also presented. The similarity of models was determined by the distance between the query model and each cluster center, and the cluster which nearest to the query model will be return as retrieval results. The simulations indicated that the proposed method had good results in terms of 3D model retrieval accuracy and retrieval time efficiency.

Cuttlebone： Characterisation, Application and Development of Biomimetic Materials

Cuttlebone signifies a special class of ultra-lightweight cellular natural material possessing unique chemical, mechanical and structural properties, which have drawn considerable attention in the literature. The aim of this paper is to better understand the mechanical and biological roles of cuttlebone. First, the existing literature concerning the characterisation and potential applications inspired by this remarkable biomaterial is critiqued. Second, the finite element-based homogenisation method is used to verify that morphological variations within individual cuttlebone samples have minimal impact on the effective me- chanical properties. This finding agrees with existing literature, which suggests that cuttlebone strength is dictated by the cut- tlefish habitation depth. Subsequently, this homogenisation approach is further developed to characterise the effective me- chanical bulk modulus and biofluidic permeability that cuttlebone provides, thereby quanti lying its mechanical and transporting functionalities to inspire bionic design of structures and materials for more extensive applications. Finally, a brief rationale for the need to design a biomimetic material inspired by the cuttlebone microstructure is provided, based on the preceding inves- tigation.

A dual-use probe for nano-metric photoelectric characterization using a confined light field generated by photonic crystals in the cantilever

We propose a plasmonic atomic force microscopy (AFM) probe, which takes a part of the laser beam for monitoring cantilever deflection as the excitation light source. Photonic crystal cavities are integrated near the cantilever’s free end where the laser spot locates. The transmitted light excites surface plasmon polaritons on the metal-coated tip and induces a confined hot-spot at the tip apex. Numerical simulations demonstrate that the plasmonic probe can couple a tilted, linearly polarized beam efficiently and yield a remarkable local electromagnetic enhancement with the intensity being around 21 times stronger than that of the original probe. For demonstration, we employ the plasmonic probe in electrostatic force microscopy and scanning Kelvin probe microscopy to study the impact of local light field on the photoelectric characteristics of SiO_(2) and Au nanoparticles. Compared with the original probe, obvious differences are observed in the electrostatic force gradients on SiO_(2) nanoparticles and in the surface potentials of Au nanoparticles. The plasmonic probe can enable AFM as a powerful tool for simultaneous optical, mechanical and electrical characterizations.

Background-free detection of molecular chirality using a single-color beam [Invited]

We propose and numerically demonstrate a simple and background-free all-optical chiral spectroscopy technique for gas molecules.Our approach is based on high harmonic generation driven by a new type of laser beam that is produced by one linearly polarized single-color beam passing through a lens and a prism.It is shown that chiral and achiral signals are completely separated in frequency,indicating strong background-free and highly sensitive chirality detection.We believe this all-optical method can open new opportunities for ultrafast detection for chiral dynamics in the femtoseond to attosecond time scale.

R11 peptides can promote the molecular imaging of spherical nucleic acids for bladder cancer margin identification

One of the critical problems in bladder cancer(BC)management is the local recurrence of disease.However,achieving the accurate delineation of tumor margins intraoperatively remains extremely difficult due to the lack of effective tumor margin recognition technology.Herein,survivin molecular beacon(MB)and R11 peptide-linked spherical nucleic acids(SNAs)were synthesized as nanoprobes(AuNP-MB@R11)for sensitive detection of BC margins.Physicochemical properties proved that R11 peptides and survivin MB were successfully loaded onto the surface of SNAs.AuNP-MB@R11 had good stability against nuclease activity and high sensitivity and specificity to detect survivin single strand DNA(ssDNA)in vitro.According to cytology,R11 peptides could increase the BC targeting ability and membrane penetrability of SNAs.Notably,R11 peptides significantly promoted the disintegration of lysosomes and the release of SNAs to enhance fluorescence imaging quality.Further RNA sequencing proved that some genes and pathways related to endocytosis and lysosomes were significantly regulated,such as AGPAT5,GPD1L,and GRB2.In orthotopic BC models and a clinical sample from a patient with BC,AuNP-MB@R11 showed a more legible cancerous fluorescence margin and offered remarkably improved detection compared to those achieved by SNAs.R11 peptide-linked SNAs present promising potential to identify BC margin,which may help to improve the R0 resection rate in surgery and improve patients’quality of life.

Simultaneous and systematic analysis of cellular and viral gene expression during Enterovirus 71-induced host shutoff

Dear Editor, Enteroviruses, including poliovirus, enterovirus 71 (EV71), enterovirus 68, coxsackievirus A16, cause millions of infections every year. The infection can lead to serious human diseases and is a significant public health problem. Among them, EV71 is an emerging pathogen that causes severe hand, foot and mouth disease (HFMD) and neurological disease, especially in young children. Currently, there is no effective treatment to EV71-caused diseases, partially blaming to a lack of understanding EV71 replication mechanism (Solomon et al., 2010). As a member of Picornaviri-dae, EV71 infection induces a rapid induction of host shutoff, which is marked by the inhibition of cellular protein synthesis (Holland, 1963). In the meantime, viral protein synthesis takes over the cellular translational machinery. It is believed that the cellular protein synthesis shutoff benefits viral replication by relocating cellular resources and facilitating viral escape from host cell immune responses (Cao et al., 2017). Both transcription and translation inhibition have been suggested to contribute to the host protein synthesis shutoff during picornavirus infection (Holland, 1963;Belsham, 2009). However, the relative role of transcription and translation inhibition in virus-induced host shutoff is yet elusive.

Fabrication of a Flexible Electric Skin Using a Bionic Cell and Study of Its Sensing Ability

Imitating the structure and function of the Pacinian corpuscle in the human body,a Bionic Cell(BC)with a liquid core was designed and made with polyvinylidene fluoride(PVDF),and an Electronic Skin(ES)sensor was successfully obtained by embedding the BCs into silicone rubber.The passive sensing ability of the ES for surface vibration pressure was measured.The results showed that the ES could detect waveform,frequency,amplitude and other parameters of the surface,and it exhibited not only a high sensitivity of 0.46563 fc/Pa,but also a large pressure measurement range of 0.6 Pa–6014 Pa.A falling real object impact experiment was carried out,and the results indicated that the ES output charge was linearly related to the falling height of the object and logarithmically related to the mass of the object.Then,a crawling insect experiment and human pulse experiment were performed to study the perception ability of the ES to irregular pressure.Due to its special structure,simple fabrication process,and high sensitivity wide measurement range,the ES fabricated in this paper is expected to be used as robot skin with tactile perception ability in the near future.

Hexokinase 1 and 2 mediates glucose utilization to regulate the synthesis of kappa casein via ribosome protein subunit 6 kinase 1 in bovine mammary epithelial cells

Glucose plays a vital part in milk protein synthesis through the mTOR signaling pathway in bovine mammary epithelial cells(BMEC).The objectives of this study were to determine how glucose affects hexokinase(HK)activity in BMEC and investigate the regulatory effect of HK in kappa casein(CSN3)synthesis via the mechanistic target of rapamycin complex 1(mTORC1)signaling pathway in BMEC.For this,HK1 and HK2 were knocked out in BMEC using the CRISPR/Cas9 system.The gene and protein expression,glucose uptake,and cell proliferation were measured.We found that glucose uptake,cell proliferation,CSN3 gene expression levels,and expression of HK1 and HK2 increased with increasing glucose concentrations.Notably,glucose uptake was significantly reduced in HK2 knockout(HK2KO)BMEC treated with 17.5 mM glucose.Moreover,under the same glucose treatment conditions,the proliferative ability and abundance of CSN3 were significantly diminished in both HK1 knockout(HK1KO)and HK2KO BMEC compared with that in wild-type BEMC.We further observed that the phosphorylation levels of ribosome protein subunit 6 kinase 1(S6K1)were reduced in HK1KO and HK2KO BMEC following treatment with 17.5 mM glucose.As expected,the levels of glucose-6-phosphate and the m RNA expression levels of glycolysis-related genes were decreased in both HK1KO and HK2KO BMEC following glucose treatment.These results indicated that the knockout of HK1 and HK2 inhibited cell proliferation and CSN3 expression in BMEC under glucose treatment,which may be associated with the inactivation of the S6K1 and inhibition of glycolysis.