Atrous Spatial Pyramid Pooling Research Articles

Fusing global context with multiscale context for enhanced breast cancer classification

Breast cancer is the second most common type of cancer among women. Prompt detection of breast cancer can impede its advancement to more advanced phases, thereby elevating the probability of favorable treatment consequences. Histopathological images are commonly used for breast cancer classification due to their detailed cellular information. Existing diagnostic approaches rely on Convolutional Neural Networks (CNNs) which are limited to local context resulting in a lower classification accuracy. Therefore, we present a fusion model composed of a Vision Transformer (ViT) and custom Atrous Spatial Pyramid Pooling (ASPP) network with an attention mechanism for effectively classifying breast cancer from histopathological images. ViT enables the model to attain global features, while the ASPP network accommodates multiscale features. Fusing the features derived from the models resulted in a robust breast cancer classifier. With the help of five-stage image preprocessing technique, the proposed model achieved 100% accuracy in classifying breast cancer on the BreakHis dataset at 100X and 400X magnification factors. On 40X and 200X magnifications, the model achieved 99.25% and 98.26% classification accuracy respectively. With a commendable classification efficacy on histopathological images, the model can be considered a dependable option for proficient breast cancer classification.

Multiscale attention-over-attention network for retinal disease recognition in OCT radiology images

Retinal disease recognition using Optical Coherence Tomography (OCT) images plays a pivotal role in the early diagnosis and treatment of conditions. However, the previous attempts relied on extracting single-scale features often refined by stacked layered attentions. This paper presents a novel deep learning-based Multiscale Feature Enhancement via a Dual Attention Network specifically designed for retinal disease recognition in OCT images. Our approach leverages the EfficientNetB7 backbone to extract multiscale features from OCT images, ensuring a comprehensive representation of global and local retinal structures. To further refine feature extraction, we propose a Pyramidal Attention mechanism that integrates Multi-Head Self-Attention (MHSA) with Dense Atrous Spatial Pyramid Pooling (DASPP), effectively capturing long-range dependencies and contextual information at multiple scales. Additionally, Efficient Channel Attention (ECA) and Spatial Refinement modules are introduced to enhance channel-wise and spatial feature representations, enabling precise localization of retinal abnormalities. A comprehensive ablation study confirms the progressive impact of integrated blocks and attention mechanisms that enhance overall performance. Our findings underscore the potential of advanced attention mechanisms and multiscale processing, highlighting the effectiveness of the network. Extensive experiments on two benchmark datasets demonstrate the superiority of the proposed network over existing state-of-the-art methods.

MRS‐Net: Brain tumour segmentation network based on feature fusion and attention mechanism

AbstractAccurate segmentation of brain tumor magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is crucial for treatment planning. Addressing the challenges of complex tumor structures and inadequate cross‐channel information utilization in Unet‐based segmentation, this paper proposes the multi‐scale residual brain tumor MRI segmentation network (MRS‐Net) incorporating an attention mechanism to enhance segmentation accuracy. First, the double residual feature fusion module is utilized to enhance the fusion of feature information between different levels. Second, the Atrous Spatial Pyramid Pooling is introduced as a bridging module of the network to capture the features at different scales of the image, so as to enhance the extraction capability of the network for detailed features. Finally, the inverted residual coordinate attention module replaces the direct splicing in Unet to fuse the large feature information at each level and scale, thus enhancing the model's ability to recognize the spatial location information of brain tumors. The Dice coefficients, positive predictive values (PPVs), sensitivities (Sensitivity) and Hausdorff distance (HD), which are the four evaluation indexes, reach 84.54%, 87.43%, 88.37% and 2.248, respectively, which are improved by 1.85%, 2.11%, 2.88% and 6.0%, respectively, compared with Unet. The experimental results show that MRS‐Net achieves better brain tumor image segmentation.

Automated segmentation of retinal layers in optical coherence tomography images using Xception70 feature extraction

Optical coherence tomography (OCT) imaging plays a critical role in evaluating retinal layer thickness, serving as a pivotal diagnostic tool for numerous retinal conditions. However, challenges such as speckle noise, poor image contrast, and ambiguous retinal detachments, like drusen, often hinder accurate segmentation of retinal layers. To address these challenges and enhance diagnostic precision, we introduce the Retinal Segmentation Network, or "Ret-Seg Net," a deep neural network-based approach. Leveraging the advanced Xception70 feature extractor, Ret-Seg Net extracts and comprehends the intricate properties of retinal layers. By integrating acquired feature maps from Xception70 into the atrous spatial pyramid-pooling module, Ret-Seg Net extracts multiscale feature information. The encoder-decoder module of Ret-Seg Net achieves automated segmentation of retinal layers in OCT images by reconstructing distinct retinal layer borders. This advanced module accurately recognizes and differentiates retinal layer boundaries, providing precise and reliable segmentation. Validation of our approach using real-time images and the Duke dataset, comprising 310 volumes with 40 B-scans each, demonstrates outstanding performance. Mean intersection over union (MIoU) and sensitivity (Se) metrics achieved remarkable values of 94.52 % and 96.25 % respectively. Furthermore, our approach offers a versatile segmentation framework applicable to various tissues and cell types in clinical settings. Automating segmentation of retinal layers enhances precision in disease identification and monitoring while significantly improving labor efficiency by reducing the need for manual segmentation.

LT-DeepLab: an improved DeepLabV3+ cross-scale segmentation algorithm for Zanthoxylum bungeanum Maxim leaf-trunk diseases in real-world environments.

Zanthoxylum bungeanum Maxim is an economically significant crop in Asia, but large-scale cultivation is often threatened by frequent diseases, leading to significant yield declines. Deep learning-based methods for crop disease recognition have emerged as a vital research area in agriculture. This paper presents a novel model, LT-DeepLab, for the semantic segmentation of leaf spot (folium macula), rust, frost damage (gelu damnum), and diseased leaves and trunks in complex field environments. The proposed model enhances DeepLabV3+ with an innovative Fission Depth Separable with CRCC Atrous Spatial Pyramid Pooling module, which reduces the structural parameters of Atrous Spatial Pyramid Pooling module and improves cross-scale extraction capability. Incorporating Criss-Cross Attention with the Convolutional Block Attention Module provides a complementary boost to channel feature extraction. Additionally, deformable convolution enhances low-dimensional features, and a Fully Convolutional Network auxiliary header is integrated to optimize the network and enhance model accuracy without increasing parameter count. LT-DeepLab improves the mean Intersection over Union (mIoU) by 3.59%, the mean Pixel Accuracy (mPA) by 2.16%, and the Overall Accuracy (OA) by 0.94% compared to the baseline DeepLabV3+. It also reduces computational demands by 11.11% and decreases the parameter count by 16.82%. These results indicate that LT-DeepLab demonstrates excellent disease segmentation capabilities in complex field environments while maintaining high computational efficiency, offering a promising solution for improving crop disease management efficiency.

Semantic Segmentation Model-Based Boundary Line Recognition Method for Wheat Harvesting

The wheat harvesting boundary line is vital reference information for the path tracking of an autonomously driving combine harvester. However, unfavorable factors, such as a complex light environment, tree shade, weeds, and wheat stubble color interference in the field, make it challenging to identify the wheat harvest boundary line accurately and quickly. Therefore, this paper proposes a harvest boundary line recognition model for wheat harvesting based on the MV3_DeepLabV3+ network framework, which can quickly and accurately complete the identification in complex environments. The model uses the lightweight MobileNetV3_Large as the backbone network and the LeakyReLU activation function to avoid the neural death problem. Depth-separable convolution is introduced into Atrous Spatial Pyramid Pooling (ASPP) to reduce the complexity of network parameters. The cubic B-spline curve-fitting method extracts the wheat harvesting boundary line. A prototype harvester for wheat harvesting boundary recognition was built, and field tests were conducted. The test results show that the wheat harvest boundary line recognition model proposed in this paper achieves a segmentation accuracy of 98.04% for unharvested wheat regions in complex environments, with an IoU of 95.02%. When the combine harvester travels at 0~1.5 m/s, the normal speed for operation, the average processing time and pixel error for a single image are 0.15 s and 7.3 pixels, respectively. This method could achieve high recognition accuracy and fast recognition speed. This paper provides a practical reference for the autonomous harvesting operation of a combine harvester.

An Improved Reptile Search Algorithm with Multiscale Adaptive Deep Learning Technique and Atrous Spatial Pyramid Pooling for IoT-based Smart Agriculture Management

Smart farming is an enhanced option for increasing food production, resource management and labour. Existing prediction methods need trained experts to analyse the data, which is a time-consuming process, and thus, there is a need for smart farming with the Internet of Things (IoT). Hence, a well-developed IoT-assisted smart agriculture model is proposed for managing agricultural needs to improve the economic value of farmers. The proposed framework constitutes four major aspects like Crop prediction, Crop yield prediction, Plant disease prediction and Smart irrigation. Initially, the crop images are taken as the input and fed to the Multi-scale Adaptive and Attention-based Convolution Neural Network with Atrous Spatial Pyramid Pooling (MACNN-ASPP), where the dissimilar crops are classified and obtained. In the second aspect, the crop image as well as crop-related data, are fetched from the data sources and given as input. Further, the deep features of the image are extracted that are added with soil and environment condition data. Then this feature is subjected to the Multi-scale Adaptive and Attention-based One-Dimensional Convolution Neural Network with Atrous Spatial Pyramid Pooling (MA1DCNN-ASPP) for crop yield prediction. While in the third aspect, the leaf images are assembled from the data file and fed as input to the MACNN-ASPP for detecting the variety of diseases affecting the plants. In the final aspect, smart irrigation is done by collecting field images with related data. Further, the deep features retrieved from the field images are applied to MA1DCNN-ASPP, where the different conditions of the field will be attained. In order to develop the model adaptively, the hyper-parameters in the network are optimised using the Improved Reptile Search Algorithm (IRSA). Finally, the investigation is done over the proposed methodology using multiple evaluation metrics. In contrast with other approaches, the proposed smart agriculture outperforms the performance of managing crops without any hazardous effects. Accuracy validation executed in the implemented IRSA-MACNN-ASSP-based crop yield prediction model accomplished better efficiency as 6.89%, 4.45%, 2.19% and 1.08% better than the classical techniques like CNN, LSTM, 1DCNN and MA1DCNN-ASPP.

Attention-Guided Residual U-Net with SE Connection and ASPP for Watershed-Based Cell Segmentation in Microscopy Images.

Time-lapse microscopy imaging is a crucial technique in biomedical studies for observing cellular behavior over time, providing essential data on cell numbers, sizes, shapes, and interactions. Manual analysis of hundreds or thousands of cells is impractical, necessitating the development of automated cell segmentation approaches. Traditional image processing methods have made significant progress in this area, but the advent of deep learning methods, particularly those using U-Net-based networks, has further enhanced performance in medical and microscopy image segmentation. However, challenges remain, particularly in accurately segmenting touching cells in images with low signal-to-noise ratios. Existing methods often struggle with effectively integrating features across different levels of abstraction. This can lead to model confusion, particularly when important contextual information is lost or the features are not adequately distinguished. The challenge lies in appropriately combining these features to preserve critical details while ensuring robust and accurate segmentation. To address these issues, we propose a novel framework called RA-SE-ASPP-Net, which incorporates Residual Blocks, Attention Mechanism, Squeeze-and-Excitation connection, and Atrous Spatial Pyramid Pooling to achieve precise and robust cell segmentation. We evaluate our proposed architecture using an induced pluripotent stem cell reprogramming dataset, a challenging dataset that has received limited attention in this field. Additionally, we compare our model with different ablation experiments to demonstrate its robustness. The proposed architecture outperforms the baseline models in all evaluated metrics, providing the most accurate semantic segmentation results. Finally, we applied the watershed method to the semantic segmentation results to obtain precise segmentations with specific information for each cell.

Clinical target volume (CTV) automatic delineation using deep learning network for cervical cancer radiotherapy: A study with external validation.

To explore the accuracy and feasibility of a proposed deep learning (DL) algorithm for clinical target volume (CTV) delineation in cervical cancer radiotherapy and evaluate whether it can perform well in external cervical cancer and endometrial cancer cases for generalization validation. A total of 332 patients were enrolled in this study. A state-of-the-art network called ResCANet, which added the cascademulti-scale convolution in the skip connections to eliminate semantic differences between different feature layers based on ResNet-UNet. The atrous spatial pyramid pooling in the deepest feature layer combined the semantic information of different receptive fields without losing information. A total of 236 cervical cancer cases were randomly grouped into 5-fold cross-training (n=189) and validation (n=47) cohorts. External validations were performed ina separate cohort of 54 cervical cancer and 42 endometrial cancer cases. The performances of the proposed network were evaluated by dice similarity coefficient (DSC), sensitivity (SEN), positive predictive value (PPV), 95% Hausdorff distance (95HD), and oncologist clinical score when comparing them with manual delineation in validation cohorts. In internal validation cohorts, the mean DSC, SEN, PPV, 95HD for ResCANet achieved 74.8%, 81.5%, 73.5%, and 10.5mm. In external independent validation cohorts, ResCANet achieved 73.4%, 72.9%, 75.3%, 12.5mm for cervical cancer cases and 77.1%, 81.1%, 75.5%, 10.3mm for endometrial cancer cases, respectively. The clinical assessment score showed that minor and no revisions (delineation time was shortened to within 30min) accountedforabout 85% of all cases in DL-aided automatic delineation. We demonstrated the problem of model generalizability for DL-based automatic delineation. The proposed network can improve the performance of automatic delineation for cervical cancer and shorten manual delineation time at no expense to quality. The network showed excellent clinical viability, which can also be even generalized for endometrial cancer with excellent performance.

Pre-stack seismic inversion based on one-dimensional GRU combined with two-dimensional improved ASPP

Abstract Pre-stack seismic inversion is essential to detailed stratigraphic interpretation of seismic data. Recently, various deep learning methods have been introduced into pre-stack inversion, effectively capturing the vertical correlations of seismic data. However, existing deep learning methods face challenges such as insufficient feature extraction, poor lateral continuity, and unclear inversion details. We introduce the atrous spatial pyramid pooling (ASPP) module into the pre-stack inversion process, modifying the connection order and mode of its three components. Additionally, we incorporate a triplet attention module to extract features at different scales and utilize a gate recurrent unit (GRU) module to extract global information. During the network training stage, we employ a multi-gather simultaneous inversion method, combining one-dimensional and two-dimensional inversions. The proposed method is named as IGIT (I for Improved ASPP, G for GRU, I for Initial model and T for Triplet attention). To verify the feasibility of this network model, we evaluate it using the Marmousi2 model, SEAM model, and field data, comparing the results with other deep learning methods. Experimental results demonstrate that the IGIT not only improves lateral continuity but also delivers accurate and clear inversion details. Notably, the inversion effect for density parameters shows significant enhancement.

LapUNet: a novel approach to monocular depth estimation using dynamic laplacian residual U-shape networks

Monocular depth estimation is an important but challenging task. Although the performance has been improved by adopting various encoder-decoder architectures, the estimated depth maps lack structure details and clear edges due to simple repeated upsampling. To solve this problem, this paper presents the novel LapUNet (Laplacian U-shape networks), in which the encoder adopts ResNeXt101, and the decoder is constructed with the novel DLRU (dynamic Laplacian residual U-shape) module. The DLRU module based on the U-shape structure can supplement high-frequency features by fusing dynamic Laplacian residual into the process of upsampling, and the residual is dynamically learnable due to the addition of convolutional operation. Also, the ASPP (atrous spatial pyramid pooling) module is introduced to capture image context at multiple scales though multiple parallel atrous convolutional layers, and the depth map fusion module is used for combining high and low frequency features from depth maps with different spatial resolution. Experiments demonstrate that the proposed model with moderate model size is superior to other previous competitors on the KITTI and NYU Depth V2 datasets. Furthermore, 3D reconstruction and target ranging by utilizing the estimated depth maps prove the effectiveness of our proposed method.

Research on abnormal object detection network of computer room inspection robot based on depth vision

Abstract This paper investigates a deep learning-based anomaly object detection network for identifying and alerting on abnormal items within computer room. First, the framework of the data center inspection robot system is outlined, and the anomaly detection task is decomposed. Next, a dataset of abnormal objects based on data center environmental information is established, and augmentation operations are performed on the created dataset. Subsequently, a SqueezeNet network model based on Residual Squeeze Excitation and Atrous Spatial Pyramid Pooling (RSE-ASPP) is proposed to optimize and improve the SqueezeNet network model. Finally, this paper employs transfer learning to address the issue of insufficient data volume. By pre-training on a large-scale dataset and fine-tuning on the constructed dataset, the accuracy and stability of abnormal object recognition can be significantly enhanced. Ultimately, the proposed RSE-ASPP-SqueezeNet network achieves high-precision detection of abnormal items in the data center inspection robot's anomaly detection task.

Multimodal brain tumor segmentation and classification from MRI scans based on optimized DeepLabV3+ and interpreted networks information fusion empowered with explainable AI

Explainable artificial intelligence (XAI) aims to offer machine learning (ML) methods that enable people to comprehend, properly trust, and create more explainable models. In medical imaging, XAI has been adopted to interpret deep learning black box models to demonstrate the trustworthiness of machine decisions and predictions. In this work, we proposed a deep learning and explainable AI-based framework for segmenting and classifying brain tumors. The proposed framework consists of two parts. The first part, encoder-decoder-based DeepLabv3+ architecture, is implemented with Bayesian Optimization (BO) based hyperparameter initialization. The different scales are performed, and features are extracted through the Atrous Spatial Pyramid Pooling (ASPP) technique. The extracted features are passed to the output layer for tumor segmentation. In the second part of the proposed framework, two customized models have been proposed named Inverted Residual Bottleneck 96 layers (IRB-96) and Inverted Residual Bottleneck Self-Attention (IRB-Self). Both models are trained on the selected brain tumor datasets and extracted features from the global average pooling and self-attention layers. Features are fused using a serial approach, and classification is performed. The BO-based hyperparameters optimization of the neural network classifiers is performed and the classification results have been optimized. An XAI method named LIME is implemented to check the interpretability of the proposed models. The experimental process of the proposed framework was performed on the Figshare dataset, and an average segmentation accuracy of 92.68 % and classification accuracy of 95.42 % were obtained, respectively. Compared with state-of-the-art techniques, the proposed framework shows improved accuracy.

MobileNet-V2: An Enhanced Skin Disease Classification by Attention and Multi-Scale Features.

The increasing prevalence of skin diseases necessitates accurate and efficient diagnostic tools. This research introduces a novel skin disease classification model leveraging advanced deep learning techniques. The proposed architecture combines the MobileNet-V2 backbone, Squeeze-and-Excitation (SE) blocks, Atrous Spatial Pyramid Pooling (ASPP), and a Channel Attention Mechanism. The model was trained on four diverse datasets such as PH2 dataset, Skin Cancer MNIST: HAM10000 dataset, DermNet. dataset, and Skin Cancer ISIC dataset. Data preprocessing techniques, including image resizing, and normalization, played a crucial role in optimizing model performance. In this paper, the MobileNet-V2 backbone is implemented to extract hierarchical features from the preprocessed dermoscopic images. The multi-scale contextual information is fused by the ASPP model for generating a feature map. The attention mechanisms contributed significantly, enhancing the extraction ability of inter-channel relationships and multi-scale contextual information for enhancing the discriminative power of the features. Finally, the output feature map is converted into probability distribution through the softmax function. The proposed model outperformed several baseline models, including traditional machine learning approaches, emphasizing its superiority in skin disease classification with 98.6% overall accuracy. Its competitive performance with state-of-the-art methods positions it as a valuable tool for assisting dermatologists in early classification. The study also identified limitations and suggested avenues for future research, emphasizing the model's potential for practical implementation in the field of dermatology.

Application of deep learning for automatic detection of table tennis balls from an intelligent serving machine

The Intelligent Table Tennis Serving Machine (TTSM) has revolutionized table tennis training by simulating the variability and precision of human opponents. However, current systems lack the capability to track and analyze ball landing points, limiting comprehensive performance evaluation. To address this, we propose a novel approach utilizing YOLOv8 as the benchmark model for detecting table tennis balls launched by a TTSM, tailored to meet the demands of intelligent training systems. Our key innovation involves integrating a Res2Net architecture enhanced with a Non-local Attention Module (NLAM) and a Dilated Atrous Spatial Pyramid Pooling (DASPP) unit into the neck network. This design improves the network’s ability to integrate multi-scale local features, thereby enhancing global information processing. The DASPP module, with adaptive dilation convolution, ensures thorough context comprehension. Additionally, we incorporate an Omni-dimensional Dynamic Convolution (ODConv) module in the detection head, employing parallel strategies to learn diverse and complementary attention cues, further enhancing detection accuracy and robustness. To validate our method, we conducted evaluations using the publicly available OpenTTGames dataset and a self-constructed dataset comprising over 10,000 table tennis ball images captured in various environments. Experimental results indicate that our method enhances mAP0.5, Precision, and Recall by 2.3%, 5.1%, and 0.9% on the OpenTTGames dataset, and by 3%, 2%, and 1.6% on the self-built dataset, respectively. Finally, we describe the optimization process of the intelligent TTSM system, which leverages keyframe analysis of ball landing points to provide feedback, thereby enabling continuous performance improvement in subsequent phases.

Adaptive multilevel attention deeplabv3+ with heuristic based frame work for semantic segmentation of aerial images using improved golden jackal optimization algorithm

Semantic segmentation of small-scale objects in aerial images is challenging due to low-level characteristics in neural networks and varying information in feature maps. Deeplab models struggle with poor edge refinement, resulting in rough borders, and fail to fully exploit relationships between pixel categories at different distances. To addressing the issue in deeplab series, an adaptive multi-level attention based deeplabv3+ (AMLA-Deeplabv3+) with improved golden jackal optimization algorithm is implemented in this paper. Multi-level attention unit has been included in the Atrous spatial pyramid pooling module in the encoder section of deeplabv3+ to bridge the semantic feature gap among encoders output. To put more weights on relevant features squeeze and excitation units has been included in the decoder section of deeplabv3+. The improved golden jackal optimization (IGJO) algorithm is deployed to fine tune the hyper parameters such as number of hidden neurons, epochs, learning rate and batch size of deeplabv3+. The proposed AMLA-Deeplabv3+ is tested on two publicly available datasets named semantic segmentation of aerial imagery and aerial image segmentation. The proposed model achieves better segmentation outcomes in terms of accuracy of 99.65%, Precision of 97.21%, F1-score of 99.48% and mean intersection over union of 98.44% with a computation time of 3.0231 minutes. The experimental outcomes shows that the proposed model’s efficiency is superior to other conventional techniques.

Semi-supervised recognition for artificial intelligence assisted pathology image diagnosis

The analysis and interpretation of cytopathological images are crucial in modern medical diagnostics. However, manually locating and identifying relevant cells from the vast amount of image data can be a daunting task. This challenge is particularly pronounced in developing countries where there may be a shortage of medical expertise to handle such tasks. The challenge of acquiring large amounts of high-quality labelled data remains, many researchers have begun to use semi-supervised learning methods to learn from unlabeled data. Although current semi-supervised learning models partially solve the issue of limited labelled data, they are inefficient in exploiting unlabeled samples. To address this, we introduce a new AI-assisted semi-supervised scheme, the Reliable-Unlabeled Semi-Supervised Segmentation (RU3S) model. This model integrates the ResUNet-SE-ASPP-Attention (RSAA) model, which includes the Squeeze-and-Excitation (SE) network, Atrous Spatial Pyramid Pooling (ASPP) structure, Attention module, and ResUNet architecture. Our model leverages unlabeled data effectively, improving accuracy significantly. A novel confidence filtering strategy is introduced to make better use of unlabeled samples, addressing the scarcity of labelled data. Experimental results show a 2.0% improvement in mIoU accuracy over the current state-of-the-art semi-supervised segmentation model ST, demonstrating our approach’s effectiveness in solving this medical problem.

YOLO-SegNet: A Method for Individual Street Tree Segmentation Based on the Improved YOLOv8 and the SegFormer Network

In urban forest management, individual street tree segmentation is a fundamental method to obtain tree phenotypes, which is especially critical. Most existing tree image segmentation models have been evaluated on smaller datasets and lack experimental verification on larger, publicly available datasets. Therefore, this paper, based on a large, publicly available urban street tree dataset, proposes YOLO-SegNet for individual street tree segmentation. In the first stage of the street tree object detection task, the BiFormer attention mechanism was introduced into the YOLOv8 network to increase the contextual information extraction and improve the ability of the network to detect multiscale and multishaped targets. In the second-stage street tree segmentation task, the SegFormer network was proposed to obtain street tree edge information more efficiently. The experimental results indicate that our proposed YOLO-SegNet method, which combines YOLOv8+BiFormer and SegFormer, achieved a 92.0% mean intersection over union (mIoU), 95.9% mean pixel accuracy (mPA), and 97.4% accuracy on a large, publicly available urban street tree dataset. Compared with those of the fully convolutional neural network (FCN), lite-reduced atrous spatial pyramid pooling (LR-ASPP), pyramid scene parsing network (PSPNet), UNet, DeepLabv3+, and HRNet, the mIoUs of our YOLO-SegNet increased by 10.5, 9.7, 5.0, 6.8, 4.5, and 2.7 percentage points, respectively. The proposed method can effectively support smart agroforestry development.

An improved EnlightenGAN shadow removal framework for images of cracked concrete

The concrete crack images in engineering are usually obscured by unexpected shadow and their removal is usually required which is always a challenging task due to its complexity and diversity. An improved Enlighten Generative Adversarial Networks (IEnlightenGAN) is developed in a proposed framework to improve shadow removal results. The Enhanced Super-Resolution Generative Adversarial Networks (ESRGAN) is firstly developed to improve the concrete image resolution. Residual-in-residual-dense blocks module and Atrous Spatial Pyramid Pooling module are then integrated into the IEnlightenGAN to improve its shadow removal capability. A quality assessment methodology on the shadow removal results is also proposed. The crack contour is extracted based on U-Net, and denoising is conducted based on morphological closing. Image segmentation metrics are used for the evaluation. The proposed IEnlightenGAN and the evaluation method are trained and verified using a dataset containing both normal and shadowed concrete crack images with comparison of results from the state-of-the-art models. The proposed shadow removal framework is found able to improve the quality of shadowed crack images, and the proposed quality assessment method is also found better than existing approach.

DAAM-Net: A dual-encoder U-Net network with adjacent auxiliary module for pituitary tumor and jaw cyst segmentation

In the diagnosis of various diseases, accurate segmentation of lesions in medical images is crucial. However, when faced with the challenges of blurred edges, noise, and low contrast in images of pituitary tumors and jaw cysts, existing methods do not perform well in solving these problems. To overcome these problems, we present a new approach based on U-Net architecture. Firstly, a more comprehensive semantic information capture is realized by superimposing two U-Net network structures. Following that, the method incorporates atrous spatial pyramid pooling (ASSP) technology to enable adjustable multi-scale feature extraction. Thirdly, an adjacent auxiliary module (AAM) is designed to smoothly fuse features from different levels, effectively suppressing noise interference and reducing feature ambiguity. By testing on the dataset provided by Quzhou People’s Hospital, the IoU, Dice, Specificity, and Mcc of the method were 77.46%, 87.18%, 99.64% and 86.97% on the pituitary tumor dataset, and 81.32%, 89.53%, 99.91% and 89.55% on the jaw cyst dataset, respectively. Compared with existing algorithms, our method exhibits superior segmentation performance and is expected to become a more reliable auxiliary tool in the diagnosis of medical diseases.