Experimental,Numerical,and Analytical Studies on the Bending of Mechanically Lined Pipe

Mechanically lined pipe(MLP)is often used for offshore oil and gas transport because of its low cost and corrosion resistance.During installation and operation,the pipe may undergo severe bending deformation,which causes the liner to separate from the outer pipe and buckles,affecting the stability of the whole line.In this paper,the buckling response of MLP subjected to bending is investigated to clarify its bending characteristics by employing both experiments,numerical simulation,as theoretical methods.Two types of MLPs were manufactured with GB 45 carbon steel(SLP)and Al 6061(ALP)used as the outer pipe material,respectively.The hydraulic expansion and bending experiments of small-scale MLPs are conducted.In addition to the ovalized shape of the cross-section for the SLP specimens,the copper liner was found to wrinkle on the compressive side.In contrast,the liner of ALP remains intact without developing any wrinkling and collapse mode.In addition,a dedicated numerical framework and theoretical models were also established.It was found both the manufacturing and bending responses of the MLP can be well reproduced,and the predicted maximum moment and critical curvatures are in good agreement with the experimental results.

Canine Myofascial Kinetic Lines: A Descriptive Dissection Study Including Related Function and Locomotion and Comparison of the Human and Equine Myofascial Kinetic Lines

Aim: This dissection study was conducted to verify if the Myofascial kinetic lines, outlined in detail in humans and recently documented in horses, were present in dogs. These dynamic lines present rows of interconnected muscles, myofascia and other fascia structures, which influence the biomechanics of the spine and limbs. Methods: Forty-two dogs of different breeds and genders were dissected, imaged, and videoed. Results: Similar kinetic lines were verified in the dog, as described in humans and horses, and additionally, three new branches of the lines were discovered. The kinetic lines described were three superficial lines: Dorsal, Ventral, and Lateral, which all started in the hindlimb and ended in the temporal and occipital regions. These lines act respectively in spinal extension, flexion, and lateral flexion. Three profound lines, which started in the tail and ended in the head. The Deep Dorsal Line followed the transversospinal myofascia. The Deep Ventral Line showed an additional start deep in the medial hind limb, continued in the hypaxial myofascia, and enveloped all the viscera. Also, the Deep Lateral Line started in the hindlimb but parted along the trunk in the deep lateral myofascial structures. Two helical lines crossed the midline two or three times and served to rotate the spine. The Functional Line established a sling from the axilla to the contralateral stifle and presented a new ipsilateral branch. The Spiral Line connected the head and the ipsilateral tarsus and additionally presented a new straight branch. The four front limb lines describe their motion: the Front Limb Protraction and Retraction, Adduction, and Abduction Lines. Conclusion: The canine lines mirrored the equine and human lines with exceptions due to differences in anatomy, foot posture, lumbosacral flexibility, and their biomechanical constitution as predator versus prey animals. Additionally, three new canine branches were verified and described.

Significant lake expansion has accelerated permafrost degradation on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau

In recent years, lakes on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau have become more responsive to climate change. In September 2011, Zonag Lake in Hoh Xil experienced sudden drainage, the water eventually flowed into Yanhu Lake, which caused Yanhu Lake to continue to expand. The potential collapse of Yanhu Lake could directly threaten the operational safety of the adjacent Qinghai-Tibet Highway, Qinghai-Tibet Railway. To explore the implications of expanding lakes on the surrounding permafrost, we selected Hoh Xil Yanhu Lake on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau to study the effect of lake expansion on permafrost degradation. The permafrost degradation in the Yanhu Lake basin from October 2017 to December 2022 was inverted using Sentinel-1 satellite image data and small baseline subset interferometry synthetic aperture radar(SBAS-In SAR) technology. Additionally, permafrost degradation from February 2007 and February 2010 was analyzed using advanced land observing satellite phased array-type L-band synthetic aperture radar(ALOS PALSAR) satellite images and differential interferometric synthetic aperture radar(D-In SAR) technique. The results showed that the permafrost around Yanhu Lake experienced accelerated degradation. Prior to the expansion of Yanhu Lake, the average annual deformation rate along the line of sight(LOS) direction was 6.7 mm/yr. After the expansion, the rate increased to 20.9 mm/yr. The integration of spatial-temporal distribution maps of surface subsidence, Wudaoliang borehole geothermal data, meteorological data, Yanhu Lake surface area changes, and water level changes supports the assertion that the intensified permafrost degradation could be attributed to lake expansion rather than the rising air temperature. Furthermore, permafrost degradation around Yanhu Lake could impact vital infrastructure such as the adjacent Qinghai-Tibet Highway and Qinghai-Tibet Railway.

Cryptic diversity and rampant hybridization in annual gentians on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau revealed by population genomic analysis

Understanding the evolutionary and ecological processes involved in population differentiation and speciation provides critical insights into biodiversity formation. In this study, we employed 29,865 single nucleotide polymorphisms(SNPs) and complete plastomes to examine genomic divergence and hybridization in Gentiana aristata, which is endemic to the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau(QTP) region. Genetic clustering revealed that G. aristata is characterized by geographic genetic structures with five clusters(West, East, Central, South and North). The West cluster has a specific morphological character(i.e., blue corolla) and higher values of FSTcompared to the remaining clusters, likely the result of the geological barrier formed by the Yangtze River. The West cluster diverged from the other clusters in the Early Pliocene;these remaining clusters diverged from one another in the Early Quaternary. Phylogenetic reconstructions based on SNPs and plastid data revealed substantial cyto-nuclear conflicts. Genetic clustering and D-statistics demonstrated rampant hybridization between the Central and North clusters,along the Bayankala Mountains, which form the geological barrier between the Central and North clusters. Species distribution modeling demonstrated the range of G. aristata expanded since the Last Interglacial period. Our findings provide genetic and morphological evidence of cryptic diversity in G. aristata, and identified rampant hybridization between genetic clusters along a geological barrier.These findings suggest that geological barriers and climatic fluctuations have an important role in triggering diversification as well as hybridization, indicating that cryptic diversity and hybridization are essential factors in biodiversity formation within the QTP region.

Unveiling evapotranspiration patterns and energy balance in a subalpine forest of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau:observations and analysis from an eddy covariance system

Evapotranspiration is an important parameter used to characterize the water cycle of ecosystems.To under-stand the properties of the evapotranspiration and energy balance of a subalpine forest in the southeastern Qinghai-Tibet Plateau,an open-path eddy covariance system was set up to monitor the forest from November 2020 to October 2021 in a core area of the Three Parallel Rivers in the Qing-hai-Tibet Plateau.The results show that the evapotranspira-tion peaked daily,the maximum occurring between 11:00 and 15:00.Environmental factors had significant effects on evapotranspiration,among them,net radiation the greatest(R^(2)=0.487),and relative humidity the least(R^(2)=0.001).The energy flux varied considerably in different seasons and sensible heat flux accounted for the main part of turbulent energy.The energy balance ratio in the dormant season was less than that in the growing season,and there is an energy imbalance at the site on an annual time scale.

Toward a Direct Measurement of the Cosmic Acceleration:The Pilot Observation of HI 21 cm Absorption Line at FAST

This study presents results on detecting neutral atomic hydrogen(H I)21 cm absorption in the spectrum of PKS PKS1413+13 at redshift z=0.24670041.The observation was conducted by FAST,with a spectral resolution of10 Hz,using 10 minutes of observing time.The global spectral profile is examined by modeling the absorption line using a single Gaussian function with a resolution of 10 kHz within a 2 MHz bandwidth.The goal is to determine the rate of the latest cosmic acceleration by directly measuring the redshift evolution of the H I 21 cm absorption line with Hubble flow toward a common background quasar over a decade or longer time span.This will serve as a detectable signal generated by the accelerated expansion of the Universe at redshift z<1,referred to as redshift drift z(5)or the SL effect.The measured H I gas column density in this DLA system is approximately equivalent to the initial observation value,considering uncertainties of the spin temperature of a spiral host galaxy.The high signal-to-noise ratio of 57,obtained at a 10 kHz resolution,strongly supports the feasibility of using the H I 21 cm absorption line in DLA systems to accurately measure the redshift drift rate at a precision level of around 10~(-10)per decade.

A phylogenetic approach identifies patterns of beta diversity and floristic subregions of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau

Patterns of taxonomic and phylogenetic beta diversity and their relationships with environmental correlates can help reveal the origin and evolutionary history of regional biota.The Qinghai-Tibet Plateau(QTP)harbors an exceptionally diverse flora,however,a phylogenetic perspective has rarely been used to investigate its beta diversity and floristic regions.In this study,we used a phylogenetic approach to identify patterns of beta diversity and quantitatively delimit floristic regions on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau.We also examined the relationships between multifaceted beta diversity,geographical distance,and climatic difference,and evaluated the relative importance of various factors(i.e.,climate,topography and history)in shaping patterns of beta diversity.Sørensen dissimilarity indices indicated that patterns of species turnover among sites dominated the QTP.We also found that patterns of both taxonomic and phylogenetic beta diversity were significantly related to geographical distance and climatic difference.The environmental factors that contributed most to these patterns of beta diversity include annual precipitation,mean annual temperature,climatic gradients and climatic instability.Hierarchical dendrograms of dissimilarity and non-metric multidimensional scaling ordination based on phylogenetic beta diversity data identified ten floristic subregions in the QTP.Our results suggest that the contemporary environment and historical climate changes have filtered species composition among sites and eventually determined beta diversity patterns of plants in the QTP.

Derivative Spectroscopy and its Application at Detecting the Weak Emission/Absorption Lines

The development of spectroscopic survey telescopes like Large Sky Area Multi-Object Fiber Spectroscopic Telescope(LAMOST),Apache Point Observatory Galactic Evolution Experiment and Sloan Digital Sky Survey has opened up unprecedented opportunities for stellar classification.Specific types of stars,such as early-type emission-line stars and those with stellar winds,can be distinguished by the profiles of their spectral lines.In this paper,we introduce a method based on derivative spectroscopy(DS)designed to detect signals within complex backgrounds and provide a preliminary estimation of curve profiles.This method exhibits a unique advantage in identifying weak signals and unusual spectral line profiles when compared to other popular line detection methods.We validated our approach using synthesis spectra,demonstrating that DS can detect emission signals three times fainter than Gaussian fitting.Furthermore,we applied our method to 579,680 co-added spectra from LAMOST Medium-Resolution Spectroscopic Survey,identifying 16,629 spectra with emission peaks around the Hαline from 10,963 stars.These spectra were classified into three distinct morphological groups,resulting in nine subclasses as follows.(1)Emission peak above the pseudo-continuum line(single peak,double peaks,emission peak situated within an absorption line,P Cygni profile,Inverse P Cygni profile);(2)Emission peak below the pseudo-continuum line(sharp emission peak,double absorption peaks,emission peak shifted to one side of the absorption line);(3)Emission peak between the pseudo-continuum line.

Petrology of Spinel-Lherzolite Xenoliths from Mazéléand Others Northen Xenoliths Localities of Cameroon Volcanic Line: Exchange Reactions and Equilibrium State

The alkaline volcanism of the Cameroon Volcanic Line in its northern domain has raised many fresh enclaves of peridotites. The samples selected come from five (05) different localities (Liri, in the plateau of Kapsiki, Mazélé in the NE of Ngaoundéré, Tello and Ganguiré in the SE of Ngaoundéré and Likok, locality located in the west of Ngaoundé). The peridotite enclaves of the above localities show restricted mineralogical variation. Most are four-phase spinel-lherzolites, indicating that this is the main lithology that forms the lithospheric mantle below the shallow zone. No traces of garnet or primary plagioclase were detected, which strongly limits the depth range from which the rock fragments were sampled. The textures and the wide equilibrium temperatures (884˚C - 1115˚C) indicate also entrainment of lherzolite xenoliths from shallow depths within the lithosphere and the presence of mantle diapirism. The exchange reactions and equilibrium state established in this work make it possible to characterize the chemical composition of the upper mantle of each region and test the equilibrium state of the phases between them. Variations of major oxides and incompatible elemental concentrations in clinopyroxene indicate a primary control by partial melting. The absence of typical “metasomatic” minerals, low equilibration temperatures and enriched LREE patterns indicate that the upper mantle below septentrional crust of Cameroun underwent an event of cryptic metasomatic enrichment prior to partial melting. The distinctive chemical features, LREE enrichment, strong U, Ce and Pr, depletion relative to Ba, Nb, La, Pb, and T, fractionation of Zr and Hf and therefore ligh high Zr/Hf ratio, low La/Yb, Nb/La and Ti/Eu are all results of interaction of refractory peridotite residues with carbonatite melts.

Evaluation of red soil-bentonite mixtures for compacted clay liners

Compacted clay liners are an integral part of the waste landfills,which are provided to contain the leachate within the landfills and protect the surrounding environment.Generally,locally available natural soils are used for the construction of compacted clay liners if they satisfy the design criteria.However,not all soils in their natural state satisfy all the design criteria for the liner materials.Thus,there is a definite need to modify the locally available natural soils by blending with bentonite to meet the required design criteria for the liners.In view of this,the present study evaluates the suitability of an Indian red soil enhanced with bentonite as a liner material.To achieve this,a series of experiments were carried out using locally available red soil and bentonite.First,the suitability of the red soil was evaluated as a liner material.The experimental results showed that the red soil met all the selection criteria stipulated by the Environmental Protection Agencies(EPAs)for the liners except the hydraulic conductivity criterion.Therefore,the red soil was mixed with bentonite contents of 10%,20%and 30%,and the red soil-bentonite mixtures were evaluated for their suitability for liners in their compacted state.Further,as the liners in the arid and semi-arid regions are subjected to moisture variations due to seasonal moisture fluctuations and other factors,the red soil-bentonite mixtures were subjected to wetdry cycles,and their suitability was evaluated after wet-dry cycles.The experimental results revealed that all the red soil-bentonite mixtures met the stipulated EPA criteria for the liners in the as-compacted state.However,the red soil-bentonite mixtures with 20%and 30%bentonite contents only satisfied the hydraulic conductivity requirement even after wet-dry cycles.The experimental findings were supplemented with the microstructural insights captured through digital camera images,scanning electron microscopy(SEM),and mercury intrusion porosimetry(MIP)studies.

Establishment and characterization of a canine chondrosarcoma cell line:Mango

In the global progress of bone tumor research,established stable and long-lasting transgenic chondrosarcoma(CSA)cell lines are rare,mainly of murine and human origin,while the establishment of canine CSA cell lines has yet to be reported.This study established a canine CSA cell line to facilitate the basic clinical study of canine CSA.Fifty fve cases of canine osteolytic disease were collected,and more than 10 bone tumor samples from dogs with typical clinical signs were used for primary cell culture.A cell line with stable passaging for more than 100 generations and mouse tumorigenic ability was successfully cultured.According to the clinical characteristics of the dog and the histopathological results of the primary tumor,CSA was diagnosed,and the CSA cell line was designated Mango.Immunohistochemical(IHC)results showed that the immunoreactivity of bone gamma-carboxyglutamate protein(BGLAP),secreted protein acidic and rich in cysteine(SPARC),alkaline phosphatase(ALPL),vimentin(VIM)and S100 were positive.However,the immunoreactivity of pan-cytokeratin(PCK),chromogranin A(CGA),and platelet endothelial cell adhesion molecule-1(CD31)was negative.Immunofuorescence(IF)results showed that the protein expressions in the Mango cell line were consistent with the IHC identifcation of the primary tumor.The Mango cell line’s doubling time was 43.92 h,and the cell formation rate exceeded 20%.There were abnormal chromosome numbers,hetero staining with toluidine blue,and certain calcifcation abilities.It could be passaged stably and continuously without changing the cell morphology and characteristics.In vivo,the cells were successfully injected into the nude mice model with a tumorigenic rate of 100%.The immunophenotype of the xenograft tumor was consistent with that of the primary tumor.Therefore,we efectively established a canine CSA cell line.As a promising cell material,this cell line can be used to construct a tumor-bearing model conducive to the subsequent basic research of canine CSA.Moreover,because of its similarity to human CSA,the animal model of CSA is also indispensable for investigating human CSA.

Characterization of the infectivity of an Indonesian Zika virus strain in mammalian cell lines

Objective:To characterize the infection patterns and growth characteristics of the Zika virus(ZIKV)strain JMB-185 from Indonesia in various mammalian cell lines.Methods:ZIKV was grown in human(A549,HEK293,HepG2,Huh7,Jurkat,and THP-1)and non-human mammalian(RAW264.7,Vero,and Vero76)cell lines.Viral replication kinetics were measured using plaque assay,while intra-and extracellular viral RNA concentrations were assessed using RT-PCR.Flow cytometry was used to quantify the infected cells and cell viability was measured using an MTT assay.The ability of ZIKV to infect cell lines was visualized using a fluorescence immunostaining assay.Results:This ZIKV strain preferentially infected the lung,kidney,and liver cell lines A549,HEK293,Huh7,Vero,and Vero76,but not the immune cells Jurkat,RAW264.7,and THP-1.By contrast,the ZIKV showed no sign of infection in HepG2 cells,while maintaining viral titer over 3 days post-infection,with no infection recorded in immunostaining,no increase in viral RNA,and no indication of cell deterioration.Conclusions:The Indonesian ZIKV strain has a similar infection profile as other strains,except for its poor infectivity on HepG2 cells.Information on the growth characteristics of Indonesia ZIKV will help expand our understanding of the biology of ZIKV which will be useful for various applications including antiviral discovery.

Biological soil crusts and their potential applications in the sand land over Qinghai-Tibet Plateau

The Qinghai-Tibet Plateau is now experiencing ecological degradation risks as a result of climate change and human activities.The alpine grassland ecology in permafrost zones is fragile and susceptible to deterioration due to its high altitude,low temperature,and limited oxygen,which complicates the repair of damaged land.Biological soil crusts(BSCs)are crucial for land restoration in plateau regions because they can thrive in harsh conditions and have environmentally beneficial traits.Inoculated biological soil crust(IBSC)has shown success in low-altitude desert regions,but may not be easily duplicated to the plateau environment.Therefore,it is essential to do a comprehensive and multifaceted analysis of the basic theoretical comprehension and practical application of BSCs on the Tibetan Plateau.This review article aims to provide a brief summary of the ecological significance and the mechanisms related to the creation,growth,and progression of BSCs.It discusses the techniques used for cultivating BSCs in laboratories and using them in the field,focusing on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau circumstance.We thoroughly discussed the potential and the required paths for further studies.This study may be used as a basis for selecting suitable microbial strains and accompanying supplemental actions for implementing IBSCs in the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau.

An Implementation of Multiscale Line Detection and Mathematical Morphology for Efficient and Precise Blood Vessel Segmentation in Fundus Images

Diagnosing various diseases such as glaucoma,age-related macular degeneration,cardiovascular conditions,and diabetic retinopathy involves segmenting retinal blood vessels.The task is particularly challenging when dealing with color fundus images due to issues like non-uniformillumination,low contrast,and variations in vessel appearance,especially in the presence of different pathologies.Furthermore,the speed of the retinal vessel segmentation system is of utmost importance.With the surge of now available big data,the speed of the algorithm becomes increasingly important,carrying almost equivalent weightage to the accuracy of the algorithm.To address these challenges,we present a novel approach for retinal vessel segmentation,leveraging efficient and robust techniques based on multiscale line detection and mathematical morphology.Our algorithm’s performance is evaluated on two publicly available datasets,namely the Digital Retinal Images for Vessel Extraction dataset(DRIVE)and the Structure Analysis of Retina(STARE)dataset.The experimental results demonstrate the effectiveness of our method,withmean accuracy values of 0.9467 forDRIVE and 0.9535 for STARE datasets,aswell as sensitivity values of 0.6952 forDRIVE and 0.6809 for STARE datasets.Notably,our algorithmexhibits competitive performance with state-of-the-art methods.Importantly,it operates at an average speed of 3.73 s per image for DRIVE and 3.75 s for STARE datasets.It is worth noting that these results were achieved using Matlab scripts containing multiple loops.This suggests that the processing time can be further reduced by replacing loops with vectorization.Thus the proposed algorithm can be deployed in real time applications.In summary,our proposed system strikes a fine balance between swift computation and accuracy that is on par with the best available methods in the field.

ST-LaneNet: Lane Line Detection Method Based on Swin Transformer and LaneNet

The advancement of autonomous driving heavily relies on the ability to accurate lane lines detection.As deep learning and computer vision technologies evolve,a variety of deep learning-based methods for lane line detection have been proposed by researchers in the field.However,owing to the simple appearance of lane lines and the lack of distinctive features,it is easy for other objects with similar local appearances to interfere with the process of detecting lane lines.The precision of lane line detection is limited by the unpredictable quantity and diversity of lane lines.To address the aforementioned challenges,we propose a novel deep learning approach for lane line detection.This method leverages the Swin Transformer in conjunction with LaneNet(called ST-LaneNet).The experience results showed that the true positive detection rate can reach 97.53%for easy lanes and 96.83%for difficult lanes(such as scenes with severe occlusion and extreme lighting conditions),which can better accomplish the objective of detecting lane lines.In 1000 detection samples,the average detection accuracy can reach 97.83%,the average inference time per image can reach 17.8 ms,and the average number of frames per second can reach 64.8 Hz.The programming scripts and associated models for this project can be accessed openly at the following GitHub repository:https://github.com/Duane 711/Lane-line-detec tion-ST-LaneNet.

On traceable iterated line graph and hamiltonian path index

Xiong and Liu[21]gave a characterization of the graphs G for which the n-iterated line graph L^(n)(G)is hamiltonian,for n≥2.In this paper,we study the existence of a hamiltonian path in L^(n)(G),and give a characterization of G for which L^(n)(G)has a hamiltonian path.As applications,we use this characterization to give several upper bounds on the hamiltonian path index of a graph.

Identification and distribution of 13003 landslides in the northwest margin of Qinghai-Tibet Plateau based on human-computer interaction remote sensing interpretation

The periphery of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau is renowned for its susceptibility to landslides.However,the northwestern margin of this region,characterised by limited human activities and challenging transportation,remains insufficiently explored concerning landslide occurrence and dispersion.With the planning and construction of the Xinjiang-Tibet Railway,a comprehensive investigation into disastrous landslides in this area is essential for effective disaster preparedness and mitigation strategies.By using the human-computer interaction interpretation approach,the authors established a landslide database encompassing 13003 landslides,collectively spanning an area of 3351.24 km^(2)(36°N-40°N,73°E-78°E).The database incorporates diverse topographical and environmental parameters,including regional elevation,slope angle,slope aspect,distance to faults,distance to roads,distance to rivers,annual precipitation,and stratum.The statistical characteristics of number and area of landslides,landslide number density(LND),and landslide area percentage(LAP)are analyzed.The authors found that a predominant concentration of landslide origins within high slope angle regions,with the highest incidence observed in intervals characterised by average slopes of 20°to 30°,maximum slope angle above 80°,along with orientations towards the north(N),northeast(NE),and southwest(SW).Additionally,elevations above 4.5 km,distance to rivers below 1 km,rainfall between 20-30 mm and 30-40 mm emerge as particularly susceptible to landslide development.The study area’s geological composition primarily comprises Mesozoic and Upper Paleozoic outcrops.Both fault and human engineering activities have different degrees of influence on landslide development.Furthermore,the significance of the landslide database,the relationship between landslide distribution and environmental factors,and the geometric and morphological characteristics of landslides are discussed.The landslide H/L ratios in the study area are mainly concentrated between 0.4 and 0.64.It means the landslides mobility in the region is relatively low,and the authors speculate that landslides in this region more possibly triggered by earthquakes or located in meizoseismal area.

Learning Epipolar Line Window Attention for Stereo Image Super-Resolution Reconstruction

Transformer-based stereo image super-resolution reconstruction(Stereo SR)methods have significantly improved image quality.However,existing methods have deficiencies in paying attention to detailed features and do not consider the offset of pixels along the epipolar lines in complementary views when integrating stereo information.To address these challenges,this paper introduces a novel epipolar line window attention stereo image super-resolution network(EWASSR).For detail feature restoration,we design a feature extractor based on Transformer and convolutional neural network(CNN),which consists of(shifted)window-based self-attention((S)W-MSA)and feature distillation and enhancement blocks(FDEB).This combination effectively solves the problem of global image perception and local feature attention and captures more discriminative high-frequency features of the image.Furthermore,to address the problem of offset of complementary pixels in stereo images,we propose an epipolar line window attention(EWA)mechanism,which divides windows along the epipolar direction to promote efficient matching of shifted pixels,even in pixel smooth areas.More accurate pixel matching can be achieved using adjacent pixels in the window as a reference.Extensive experiments demonstrate that our EWASSR can reconstruct more realistic detailed features.Comparative quantitative results show that in the experimental results of our EWASSR on the Middlebury and Flickr1024 data sets for 2×SR,compared with the recent network,the Peak signal-to-noise ratio(PSNR)increased by 0.37 dB and 0.34 dB,respectively.

Optimizing profile line interval for enhanced accuracy in rock joint morphology and shear strength assessments

2D profile lines play a critical role in cost-effectively evaluating rock joint properties and shear strength.However, the interval(ΔI_(L)) between these lines significantly impacts roughness and shear strength assessments. A detailed study of 45 joint samples using four statistical measures across 500 different ΔI_(L)values identified a clear line interval effect with two stages: stable and fluctuation-discrete.Further statistical analysis showed a linear relationship between the error bounds of four parameters,shear strength evaluation, and their corresponding maximum ΔI_(L)values, where the gradient k of this linear relationship was influenced by the basic friction angle and normal stress. Accounting for these factors,lower-limit linear models were employed to determine the optimal ΔI_(L)values that met error tolerances(1%–10%) for all metrics and shear strength. The study also explored the consistent size effect on joints regardless of ΔI_(L)changes, revealing three types of size effects based on morphological heterogeneity.Notably, larger joints required generally higher ΔI_(L)to maintain the predefined error limits, suggesting an increased interval for large joint analyses. Consequently, this research provides a basis for determining the optimal ΔI_(L), improving accuracy in 2D profile line assessments of joint characteristics.

A Simple and Effective Surface Defect Detection Method of Power Line Insulators for Difficult Small Objects

Insulator defect detection plays a vital role in maintaining the secure operation of power systems.To address the issues of the difficulty of detecting small objects and missing objects due to the small scale,variable scale,and fuzzy edge morphology of insulator defects,we construct an insulator dataset with 1600 samples containing flashovers and breakages.Then a simple and effective surface defect detection method of power line insulators for difficult small objects is proposed.Firstly,a high-resolution featuremap is introduced and a small object prediction layer is added so that the model can detect tiny objects.Secondly,a simplified adaptive spatial feature fusion(SASFF)module is introduced to perform cross-scale spatial fusion to improve adaptability to variable multi-scale features.Finally,we propose an enhanced deformable attention mechanism(EDAM)module.By integrating a gating activation function,the model is further inspired to learn a small number of critical sampling points near reference points.And the module can improve the perception of object morphology.The experimental results indicate that concerning the dataset of flashover and breakage defects,this method improves the performance of YOLOv5,YOLOv7,and YOLOv8.In practical application,it can simply and effectively improve the precision of power line insulator defect detection and reduce missing detection for difficult small objects.