FLRT2 mediates chondrogenesis of nasal septal cartilage and mandibular condyle cartilage.

Nasal septal cartilages (NSCs) and mandibular condyle cartilages (MCCs) are two important cartilages for craniomaxillofacial development. However, the role of FLRT2 in the formation of NSCs and MCCs remains undiscovered. NSCs and MCCs were used for immunocytochemistry staining of collagen II, toluidine blue staining, and alcian blue staining. Quantitative reverse transcription­PCR and western blot were used to detect mRNA and protein expressions of FLRT2, N-cadherin, collagen II, aggrecan, and SOX9. Cell proliferation of MCCs and NSCs was tested by 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide assay and cell counting kit­8 assay. Cell migration of MCCs and NSCs was examined by wound healing assay and Transwell. Chondrogenesis of MCCs and NSCs were similar in morphological characteristics, while different in cell proliferation, migration, and extracellular matrix. FLRT2 promotes the proliferation and migration of NSCs. There were up-regulation of N-cadherin and down-regulation of collagen II, aggrecan, and SOX9 in NSC with knock down FLRT2. The current study, as demonstrated by Xie et al., reveals that FLRT2 overexpression in Sprague-Dawley neonatal rats promotes the proliferation and migration of NSCs and MCCs, decreases N-cadherin while increases collagen II, aggrecan, and SOX9 in NSC and MCCs. Altogether, FLRT2 mediates chondrogenesis of NSCs and MCCs.

PAR 2Net: End-to-End Panoramic Image Reflection Removal.

In this article, we investigate the problem of panoramic image reflection removal to relieve the content ambiguity between the reflection layer and the transmission scene. Although a partial view of the reflection scene is attainable in the panoramic image and provides additional information for reflection removal, it is not trivial to directly apply this for getting rid of undesired reflections due to its misalignment with the reflection-contaminated image. We propose an end-to-end framework to tackle this problem. By resolving misalignment issues with adaptive modules, the high-fidelity recovery of reflection layer and transmission scenes is accomplished. We further propose a new data generation approach that considers the physics-based formation model of mixture images and the in-camera dynamic range clipping to diminish the domain gap between synthetic and real data. Experimental results demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed method and its applicability for mobile devices and industrial applications.

Benchmarking Single-Image Reflection Removal Algorithms.

Reflection removal has been discussed for more than decades. This paper aims to provide the analysis for different reflection properties and factors that influence image formation, an up-to-date taxonomy for existing methods, a benchmark dataset, and the unified benchmarking evaluations for state-of-the-art (especially learning-based) methods. Specifically, this paper presents a SIngle-image Reflection Removal Plus dataset "SIR 2+ " with the new consideration for in-the-wild scenarios and glass with diverse color and unplanar shapes. We further perform quantitative and visual quality comparisons for state-of-the-art single-image reflection removal algorithms. Open problems for improving reflection removal algorithms are discussed at the end. Our dataset and follow-up update can be found at https://reflectionremoval.github.io/sir2data/.

Electrical and Optical Properties of Au-Catalyzed GaAs Nanowires Grown on Si (111) Substrate by Molecular Beam Epitaxy.

In this study, defect-free zinc blende GaAs nanowires on Si (111) by molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) growth are systematically studied through Au-assisted vapor-liquid-solid (VLS) method. The morphology, density, and crystal structure of GaAs nanowires were investigated as a function of substrate temperature, growth time, and As/Ga flux ratio during MBE growth, as well as the thickness, annealing time, and annealing temperature of Au film using scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), cathodoluminescence (CL), and Raman spectroscopy. When the As/Ga flux ratio is fixed at 25 and the growth temperature at 540 °C, the GaAs nanowires exhibit a defect-free zinc blende structure with uniform and straight morphology. According to the characteristics of GaAs nanowires grown under varied conditions, a growth mechanism for defect-free zinc blende GaAs nanowires via Au-assisted vapor-liquid-solid (VLS) method is proposed. Finally, doping by Si and Be of nanowires is investigated. The results of doping lead to GaAs nanowires processing n-type and p-type semiconductor properties and reduced electrical resistivity. This study of defect-free zinc blende GaAs nanowire growth should be of assistance in further growth and applications studies of complex III-V group nanostructures.

[Digital signal acquisition and processing software for atomic fluorescence spectrometry and its application to elemental speciation].

A program was developed to collect and process digital signal by using Visual C++ for atomic fluorescence spectrometry (AFS). The software solves the data acquisition problem of coupling AFS with HPLC and other successive separation techniques. This program employs three signal processing techniques, i.e. Savitzky-Golay smoothing, Fourier filter and wavelet denoising, to smooth and filter the noisy data. The processes and comparisons of these techniques have been discussed. The program was successfully applied to the preliminary study of Cd speciation by using cation exchange HPLC coupled to AFS, and will provide a new possibility for extending the application of atomic fluorescence spectrometry to the field of elemental speciation analysis.