• KSII Transactions on Internet and Information Systems (TIIS)
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• v.16 no.9
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• pp.2882-2903
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• 2022

Image super-resolution (SR) processing is of great value in the fields of digital image processing, intelligent security, film and television production and so on. This paper proposed a densely connected deep learning network based on cascade architecture, which can be used to solve the problem of super-resolution in the field of image quality enhancement. We proposed a more efficient residual scaling dense block (RSDB) and the multi-channel cascade architecture to realize more efficient feature reuse. Also we proposed a hybrid loss function based on L₁ error and L_∞ error to achieve better L_∞ error performance. The experimental results show that the overall performance of the network is effectively improved on cascade architecture and residual scaling. Compared with the residual dense net (RDN), the PSNR / SSIM of the new method is improved by 2.24% / 1.44% respectively, and the L_∞ performance is improved by 3.64%. It shows that the cascade connection and residual scaling method can effectively realize feature reuse, improving the residual convergence speed and learning efficiency of our network. The L_∞ performance is improved by 11.09% with only a minimal loses of 1.14% / 0.60% on PSNR / SSIM performance after adopting the new loss function. That is to say, the L_∞ performance can be improved greatly on the new loss function with a minor loss of PSNR / SSIM performance, which is of great value in L_∞ error sensitive tasks.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.32 no.11
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• pp.1753-1762
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• 2019

Objective: The study was aimed to compare carcass traits, physicochemical and textural properties of meat in two different genotypes of Pekin ducks with regard to sex effect. Methods: The study involved 120 Pekin ducks: 30 males and 30 females of strain P33 (Polish native Pekin ducks) and 30 males and 30 females of Star 53 HY (commercial hybrid Pekin ducks). At 49 d of age, 48 birds (12 males and 12 females of each genotype) were selected for dissection. After the dissection, meat samples were collected to determine meat quality traits. Results: The studied Pekin ducks of different genotype showed significant differences in body weight, carcass weight, dressing percentage, as well as percentages of breast muscles, skin with subcutaneous fat, abdominal fat, neck, and remainders of eviscerated carcass with neck. Duck genotype influenced the content of crude protein, crude fat, Na, K, P, Zn, $pH_{24}$, electric conductivity ($EC_{24}$), cooking loss, $L^{\star}$, $a^{\star}$, most textural traits of breast muscle, and also Na, Mg and Fe content, $EC_{24}$, drip loss, cooking loss and $L^{\star}$, $a^{\star}$, and $b^{\star}$ colour coordinates of leg muscles. Regardless of genetic origin, males exhibited higher BW, carcass weight and carcass neck percentage, as well as lower redness, hardness, chewiness and gumminess of breast muscle compared to females. The genotype${\times}$sex interaction was significant for the crude fat content and cooking loss of breast muscle, and for the yellowness of leg muscle. Conclusion: Star 53 HY ducks are more suited for broiler production due to their higher body weight and dressing percentage. Their breast and leg meat are characterized by more beneficial chemical composition but has poorer sensory and textural properties compared to the meat of P33 ducks.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.29 no.7
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• pp.779-784
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• 2019

Free radicals are known to inhibit hair vitality by damaging the cell membranes of the hair follicles. The purpose of this study was to determine the antioxidant activities and the capacity for hair loss prevention of extracts from Platycodon grandiflorum. We prepared butanol (BF) and water (WF) fractions from P. grandiflorum. DPPH and ABTS radical scavenging activities were measured to investigate the antioxidant activities of the fractions. Both fractions exhibited dose-dependent antioxidant activities for DPPH radical production, and BF and WF almost completely suppressed ABTS radical production when supplied at 10 and 100 mg/ml, respectively. We confirmed a skin regeneration effect by treating human HaCaT skin cells with a range of BF and WF concentrations for 24 and 48 hr. The extract treatments accelerated cell proliferation. We also assayed the capacity of BF and WF to suppress inflammation using RAW264.7 cells. BF dose-dependently suppressed nitrous oxide (NO) production. Treatment of human hair follicle dermal papilla cells (HFDPC) with BF and WF promoted cell proliferation after 24, 48, and 72 hr of treatment when supplied at 10, 50, 100, and $200{\mu}g/ml$. Taken together, these results confirm the possibility of using BF and WF extracts from P. grandiflorum in formulating hair loss prevention products.

• International Journal of Industrial Entomology and Biomaterials
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• v.19 no.2
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• pp.265-268
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• 2009

Wild silkmoths can be utilised sustainably in the production of silk as an income for resource-poor rural communities. However, attack by parasitoids and predators affect the quality of cocoons and quantity of raw silk produced. A laboratory experiment was undertaken to quantify the effect of parasitoids' (dipteran and hymenopteran) and predators' (ants) exit and ingress holes, respectively, on silk production. The mean number of shells required to produce fifty grams of raw silk was highest with cocoons parasitised by a dipteran and lowest with unattacked cocoons (but with moths already emerged). Degumming loss was highest in parasitised and lowest in unttacked cocoons, but both were not different from cocoons predated by ants. Shell weight was highest in unattacked cocoons, followed by hymenopteran-parasitised and predated cocoons, with the dipteran parasitized ones being the least. Single cocoon weight was greater in hymenopteran-parasitised and predated cocoons than the dipteran-parasitised and unattacked cocoons. Shell ratio or raw silk, floss and yarn weights were higher in unattacked than parasitised and predated cocoons. The total loss in raw silk attributable to attack by parasitoids and predators ranged between 17.4~31.2%. The results offer baseline information for assessment of economic losses in wild silk farming due to parasitoids and predators in the field.

• Advances in concrete construction
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• v.6 no.3
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• pp.311-322
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• 2018

This paper presents an experimental investigation on the performance of concrete with and without glass powder (GP) subjected to elevated temperatures. Mechanical and physicochemical properties of concretes were studied at both ambient and high temperatures. One of the major environmental concerns is disposal or recycling of the waste materials. However, a high volume of the industrial production has generated a considerable amount of waste materials which have a number of adverse impacts on the environment. Further, use of glass or by-products in concrete production has advantages for improving some or all of the concrete properties. The economic incentives and environmental benefits in terms of reduced carbon footprint are also the reason for using wastes in concrete. The occurrence of spalling, compressive strength, mass loss, chemical composition, crystalline phase, and thermal analysis of CPG before and after exposure to various temperatures (20, 200, 400, and $600^{\circ}C$) were comprehensively investigated. The results indicated that, the critical temperature range of CPG was between $400^{\circ}C$ and $600^{\circ}C$.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.13 no.12
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• pp.1743-1749
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• 2000

An experiment was conducted to investigate the effect of supplementation of commercial phytase and ${\beta}-glucanase$ to wheat-soybean meal based layer diets. Control (17% CP) and reduced protein (13.5% CP) diets were compared with and without phytase and/or ${\beta}-glucanase$. Reducing dietary crude protein levels reduced the amount of N excreted by laying hens with no adverse affect on egg production or overall feed conversion ratio. There was, however, a slight reduction in average egg weight. When phytase was added to the control protein diets it was possible to reduce the level of dicalcium phosphate in the diet without a loss in performance and daily P output was reduced significantly. When phytase was added to the reduced protein diets, however, there was a dramatic loss in performance in the last four weeks of the study. Supplementation of ${\beta}-glucanase$ to wheat based layer diet did not appear to have beneficial affects in terms of laying performance and reducing nitrogen or phosphorus excretion. Combination of phytase and ${\beta}-glucanase$ had no positive effects on laying performance or reduction of DM, N and P.

• Journal of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.51 no.2
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• pp.37-48
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• 2018

Massive stars blow powerful stellar winds throughout their evolutionary stages from the main sequence to Wolf-Rayet phases. The amount of mechanical energy deposited in the interstellar medium by the wind from a massive star can be comparable to the explosion energy of a core-collapse supernova that detonates at the end of its life. In this study, we estimate the kinetic energy deposition by massive stars in our Galaxy by considering the integrated Galactic initial mass function and modeling the stellar wind luminosity. The mass loss rate and terminal velocity of stellar winds during the main sequence, red supergiant, and Wolf-Rayet stages are estimated by adopting theoretical calculations and observational data published in the literature. We find that the total stellar wind luminosity due to all massive stars in the Galaxy is about ${\mathcal{L}}_w{\approx}1.1{\times}10^{41}erg\;s^{-1}$, which is about 1/4 of the power of supernova explosions, ${\mathcal{L}}_{SN}{\approx}4.8{\times}10^{41}erg\;s^{-1}$. If we assume that ~ 1 - 10 % of the wind luminosity could be converted to Galactic cosmic rays (GCRs) through collisonless shocks such as termination shocks in stellar bubbles and superbubbles, colliding-wind shocks in binaries, and bow-shocks of massive runaway stars, stellar winds might be expected to make a significant contribution to GCR production, though lower than that of supernova remnants.

• Research in Plant Disease
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• v.24 no.2
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• pp.162-169
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• 2018

The GacS/GacA system in the root colonizer Pseudomonas chlororaphis O6 is a key regulatory system of many traits relevant to the plant probiotic nature of this bacterium. The work in this paper elucidates proteins using proteomics approach in P. chlororaphis O6 under the control of the cytoplasmic regulatory protein, GacA. A gacA mutant of P. chlororaphis O6 showed loss in production of phenazines, acyl homoserine lactones, hydrogen cyanide, and protease, changes that were associated with reduced in vitro antifungal activity against plant fungal pathogens. Production of iron-chelating siderophore was significantly enhanced in the gacA mutant, also paralleling changes in a gacS mutant. However, proteomic analysis revealed proteins (13 downregulated and 7 upregulated proteins in the mutant compared to parental strain) under GacA control that were not apparent by a proteomic study of a gacS mutant. The putative identity of the downregulated proteins suggested that a gacA mutant would have altered transport potentials. Notable would be a predicted loss of type-VI secretion and PEP-dependent transport. Study of mutants of these GacA-regulated proteins will indicate further the features required for probiotic potential in this rhizobacterium.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.12 no.4
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• pp.557-562
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• 2002

Physiological characteristics such as specific productivity, morphology of Streptomyces cells Immobilized on celite beads, and operational stability at different dilution rates were investigated in continuous immobilized-cell cultures for the production of kasugamycin. At a dilution rate (D) of 0.05 $h^{-1}$, a relatively high specific productivity was attained and the loss of cell-loaded beads was negligible. At D=0.1 $h^{-1}$, a higher specific productivity and cell concentration could be obtained, resulting in a significantly improved volumetric kasugamycin productivity. However, no stable operation could be maintained due to a significant loss of cell-loaded beads from the reactor that was caused by their fluffy morphology developed in the later stage. At D=0.2 $h^{-1}$, the production of kasugamycin and cell growth were observed to be severely inhibited by the high concentration of residual maltose.

• Publications of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.30 no.2
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• pp.283-287
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• 2015

Within the context of the hugely successful SAGE-LMC and SAGE-SMC surveys, Spitzer photometry observations of the Large and Small Magellanic Clouds have revealed millions of infrared point sources in each galaxy. The brightest infrared sources are generally dust producing and mass-losing evolved stars, and several tens of thousands of such stars have been classified. After photometrically classifying these objects, the dust production by several kinds of evolved stars - such as Asymptotic Giant Branch stars and Red Supergiants - can be determined. SAGE-Spec is the spectroscopic follow-up to the SAGE-LMC survey, and it has obtained Spitzer-IRS $5-40{\mu}m$ spectroscopy of about 200 sources in the LMC. Combined with archival data from other programs, observations at a total of ~1000 pointings have been obtained in the LMC, while ~250 IRS pointings were observed in the SMC. Of these, a few hundred pointings represent dust producing and mass-losing evolved stars, covering a range in colors, luminosities, and thus mass-loss rates. Red Supergiants and O-rich and C-rich AGB stars - the main dust producers - are well represented in the spectroscopic sample. This paper will summarize what we know about the mineralogy of dust producing evolved stars, and discuss their relative importance in the total dust budget.