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Due to the block of high-rise objects and the influence of the sun’s altitude and azimuth, shadows are inevitably formed in remote sensing images particularly in urban areas, which causes missing information in the shadow region. In this paper, we propose a new method for shadow detection and compensation through objected-based strategy. For shadow detection, the shadow was highlighted by an improved shadow index (ISI) combined color space with an NIR band, then ISI was reconstructed by the objects acquired from the mean-shift algorithm to weaken noise interference and improve integrity. Finally, threshold segmentation was applied to obtain the shadow mask. For shadow compensation, the objects from segmentation were treated as a minimum processing unit. The adjacent objects are likely to have the same ambient light intensity, based on which we put forward a shadow compensation method which always compensates shadow objects with their adjacent non-shadow objects. Furthermore, we presented a dynamic penumbra compensation method (DPCM) to define the penumbra scope and accurately remove the penumbra. Finally, the proposed methods were compared with the stated-of-art shadow indexes, shadow compensation method and penumbra compensation methods. The experiments show that the proposed method can accurately detect shadow from urban high-resolution remote sensing images with a complex background and can effectively compensate the information in the shadow region.

This study systematically investigates the influence of Zr additions (0–0.24 wt.%) on the microstructure evolution and mechanical properties of Al–4.0Cu–0.5Mg–0.5Zn–0.5Mn–0.4Ag alloys under peak-aged conditions. Alloys were subjected to homogenization (420 °C/8 h + 510 °C/16 h), solution treatment (510 °C/1.5 h), and aging (190 °C/3 h). Microstructural characterization via OM, SEM, EBSD, and TEM revealed that Zr refines grains and enhances recrystallization resistance through coherent Al3Zr precipitates, which pin grain boundaries and dislocations. However, excessive Zr (0.24 wt.%) induces heterogeneous grain size distribution and significant Schmid factor variations, promoting stress concentration and premature intergranular cracking. Crucially, Al3Zr particles act as heterogeneous nucleation sites for Ω-phase precipitates, accelerating their nucleation near grain boundaries, refining precipitates, and narrowing precipitate-free zones (PFZs). Mechanical testing demonstrated that the Al–4.0Cu–0.5Mg–0.5Zn–0.5Mn–0.4Ag alloy exhibits optimal properties: peak tensile strength of 368.8 MPa and 79.8% tensile strength retention at 200 °C. These improvements are attributed to synergistic microstructural modifications driven by controlled Zr addition, establishing Al–4.0Cu–0.5Mg–0.5Zn–0.5Mn–0.4Ag–0.16Zr as a promising candidate for high-temperature aerospace applications.

For multi-spectral remote sensing imagery, accurate shadow extraction is of great significance for overcoming the information loss caused by high buildings and the solar incidence angle in urban remote sensing. However, diverse solar illumination conditions, similarities between shadows, and other dark land features bring uncertainties and deviations to shadow extraction processes and results. In this paper, we classify shadows as either strong or weak based on the ratio between ambient light intensity and direct light intensity, and use the fractal net evolution approach (FNEA), which is a multi-scale segmentation method based on spectral and shape heterogeneity, to reduce the interference of salt and pepper noise and relieve the error of misdiagnosing land covers with high reflectivity in shaded regions as unshaded ones. Subsequently, an object-based shadow index (OSI) is presented according to the illumination intensities of different reflectance features, as well as using the normalized difference water index (NDWI) and near infrared (NIR) band to highlight shadows and eliminate water body interference. The data from three high-spatial-resolution satellites—WorldView-2 (WV-2), WorldView-3 (WV-3), and GaoFen-2 (GF-2)—were used to test the methods and verify the robustness of the OSI. The results show that the OSI index performed well regarding both strong and weak shadows with the user accuracy and the producer accuracy both above 90%, while the four other existing indexes that were tested were not effective at diverse solar illumination conditions. In addition, all the disturbances from water body were excluded well when using the OSI, except for the GF-2 data in weak shadows.

Perioperative neurocognitive disorder (PND) is a common neurological complication after surgery/anesthesia in elderly patients that affect postoperative outcome and long-term quality of life, which increases the cost of family and social resources. The pathological mechanism of PND is complex and not fully understood, and the methods of prevention and treatment of PND are very limited, so it is particularly important to analyze the mechanism of PND. Research indicates that mitochondrial dysfunction is pivotal in the initiation and progression of PND, although the precise mechanisms remain elusive and could involve disrupted mitophagy. We reviewed recent studies on the link between mitophagy and PND, highlighting the role of key proteins in abnormal mitophagy and discussing therapeutic strategies aimed at mitophagy regulation. This provides insights into the mechanisms underlying PND and potential therapeutic targets.

Recycling solid waste as functional materials is important for both environmental remediation and resource recycling. This study attempts to recycle spent Cu/Fe layered double hydroxide (Cu/Fe-LDH) which is generated from the adsorption of dyes by converting to Cr(VI) reductant and porous carbon material. Results showed that the obtained reductant was mainly composed of Fe 0 and Cu 0 , and exhibited good reductive activity toward Cr(VI). The species of Fe 0 , Fe 2+ , Cu 0 , and Cu + all favored the reduction of Cr(VI) according to X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy analysis. During Cr(VI) removal, solution pH could increase to neutral which caused the metal ions to precipitate near completion. On the other hand, the spent Cu/Fe-LDH could be employed to produce porous carbon materials, and the generated waste metals solution herein could be reused for LDH synthesis. Specific surface areas of the obtained carbon materials varied from 141.3–744.2 m 2 /g with changes in adsorbed amount of dyes on the LDH. This study illustrates that all the components of wastes can be useful resources, offering a simple recycling approach for similar organic-inorganic solid wastes. This work also enlightens us that designing a proper initial product is crucial to make waste recycling simpler.

An in situ soil moisture observation network at pixel scale is constructed in cropland in the northeast of China for accurate regional soil moisture evaluations of satellite products. The soil moisture products are based on the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) algorithm and the Land Parameter Retrieval Model (LPRM) from the Advanced Microwave Scanning Radiometer 2 (AMSR2), and the products from the FengYun-3B (FY3B) satellite are evaluated using synchronous in situ data collected by the EC-5 sensors at the surface in a typical cropland in the northeast of China during the crop-growing season from May to September 2017. The results show that the JAXA product provides an underestimation with a bias (b) of -0.094 cm3/cm3, and the LPRM soil moisture product generates an overestimation with a b of 0.156 cm3/cm3. However the LPRM product shows a better correlation with the in situ data, especially in the early experimental period when the correlation coefficient is 0.654, which means only the JAXA product in the early stage, with an unbiased root mean square error (ubRMSE) of 0.049 cm3/cm3 and a b of -0.043 cm3/cm3, reaches the goal accuracy (±0.05 cm3/cm3). The FY3B has consistently obtained microwave brightness temperature data, but its soil moisture product data in the study area is seriously missing during most of the experimental period. However, it recovers in the later period and is closer to the in situ data than the JAXA and LPRM products. The three products show totally different trends with vegetation cover, soil temperature, and actual soil moisture itself in different time periods. The LPRM product is more sensitive and correlated with the in situ data, and is less susceptible to interferences. The JAXA is numerically closer to the in situ data, but the results are still affected by temperature. Both will decrease in accuracy as the actual soil moisture increases. The FY3B seems to perform better at the end of the whole period after data recovery.

Atopic dermatitis (AD) is a difficult-to-treat and recurrent skin condition that often imposes a heavy burden on patients and healthcare systems due to the high costs associated with its treatment and management. Astragalus membranaceus (AM), as a botanical drug, has been shown to alleviate skin diseases through multiple mechanisms. However, its systematic mechanism of action against AD remains unclear. This research summarizes the molecular mechanisms through which AM and its active components (polysaccharides, saponins, flavonoids) mitigate AD. The study proposes, for the first time, that AM may alleviate the onset and progression of AD by inhibiting the translocation of gut-derived inflammatory factors to the skin through the Gut-Skin Axis (GSA). Through comprehensive analysis of network pharmacology, molecular docking, and molecular dynamics simulations, compounds with potentially high activity of AM were preliminarily screened. The potential interaction mechanism between this compound molecule and the target protein in AD treatment was further explored. A total of 89 common targets were identified between AM and AD. Enrichment analysis suggests that signaling pathways such as IL-6, TNF-α, NF-κB, and IL-17 may serve as key regulatory hubs in the progression of AD. At conventional doses, AM exhibits a good safety profile. However, the risk of interactions when combined with traditional AD treatments (such as tacrolimus) warrants attention, necessitating enhanced safety evaluations before clinical application. Overall, AM holds potential as an adjunctive therapy for mitigating side effects and improving symptoms, offering a safer alternative to existing treatments. It contributes to shifting AD treatment strategies from purely symptom control toward addressing both symptoms and underlying causes.

Rapamycin is well-known for its protection in neurodegenerative disorders, and mitochondrial dysfunction-related diseases. However, the mechanisms Rapamycin influences mitophagy in juvenile perioperative neurocognitive disorders (PND), remain poorly understood. Female C57BL/6J mice (4–6 weeks) were randomly allocated to four groups: Control (C), Surgery (S), Surgery+Rapamycin (RAPA, Rapamycin 8 mg kg−1 intraperitoneally (i.p.) every other day for 7 days, 24 h before laparotomy), and Surgery+Rapamycin+3-methyladenine (3-MA+RAPA, 3-MA, 2 mg kg−1 i.p. once daily for 7 days, 1 h before Rapamycin injection). Cognitive performance was assessed on post-operative days 1, 3 and 7; hippocampal ROS, ATP, mitochondrial membrane potential, ultrastructure and mitophagy proteins were subsequently evaluated. PND occurred in juvenile mice following laparotomy, as evidenced by a decline in Y-maze alternation rate and novel object recognition, increased ROS levels in the hippocampus, and mitochondrial disruptions. Rapamycin protected PND by enhancing mitophagy in hippocampal neurons, reducing ROS accumulation, and preventing mitochondrial damage. Nevertheless, Rapamycin’s neuroprotective effects were abolished by 3-MA administered. Rapamycin protects against juvenile PND by stimulating neuronal mitophagy. It offers new insights for pediatrics, but more clinical trials are needed.

Traditional road extraction algorithms, which focus on improving the accuracy of road surfaces, cannot overcome the interference of shelter caused by vegetation, buildings, and shadows. In this paper, we extract the roads via road centerline extraction, road width extraction, broken centerline connection, and road reconstruction. We use a multiscale segmentation algorithm to segment the images, and feature extraction to get the initial road. The fast marching method (FMM) algorithm is employed to obtain the boundary distance field and the source distance field, and the branch backing-tracking method is used to acquire the initial centerline. Road width of each initial centerline is calculated by combining the boundary distance fields, before a tensor field is applied for connecting the broken centerline to gain the final centerline. The final centerline is matched with its road width when the final road is reconstructed. Three experimental results show that the proposed method improves the accuracy of the centerline and solves the problem of broken centerline, and that the method reconstructing the roads is excellent for maintain their integrity.

Deep convection systems (DCSs) over the Tibetan Plateau (TP) and its surrounding areas (SA) with full lifecycle have yet to be continuously tracked, and variations in DCS properties remain insufficiently explored. This study employs all‐day cloud physical properties to automatically identify and track DCSs in summer. The results show that, influenced by factors such as summer monsoon, topography, and solar radiation, the diurnal variation of DCS number follows a unimodal pattern, with a phase difference of approximately 2 hr between the two areas. Additionally, diurnal variation in cloud properties of DCSs and their internal regions is revealed for the first time. Quantitative analysis of the DCS properties with different sizes and lifetimes indicates that both the TP and SA are dominated by small‐sized DCS with initial DCS lifetimes under 6 hr. These discoveries provide valuable insights into understanding the development and evolution of DCSs and their climatic effects.