Branching Characteristics Research Articles

Calculation of the main characteristics of polymer branching taking into account the exchange of activity between polymerization centres

The calculation of the main characteristics of the branching of the polymer is presented in the article using the example of polymerization of butadiene in the presence of an organolithium catalytic system modified with polyfunctional sodium and magnesium alcoholates. The addition of a modifier to the catalytic system leads to the participation in the polymerization of at least two types of active centers, which is the reason for some branching of macromolecules. The complemented mathematical model of the periodic process, taking into account the exchange of activity between the two centers, allows to calculate the main characteristics of branching.

Nitrogen rate and plant density interaction enhances grain yield by regulating the grain distribution of secondary branches on the panicle axis and photosynthesis in japonica rice.

Two japonica rice cultivars with different panicle trait index (PTI), HP917 (a high-PTI cultivar) and DP128 (a low-PTI cultivar) were used to investigate the effects of the nitrogen (N) rate and plant density on the grain distribution of secondary branches on the panicle axis, leaf photosynthetic characteristics, and grain yield by a split plot design. The main plots were assigned to four N rates (0, 140, 200, and 260 kg ha-1), and the subplots were assigned to two plant densities: (D20, 15 plants m-2; D10, 30 plants m-2). Results showed that the grain yield was increased by increasing N rate and plant density, reaching a peak at N200 with D10. Compared with N0 treatment, the PTIs of HP917 and DP128 increased with an increase in the N rate, respectively. The PTIs of HP917 and DP128 increased by 4% with increasing plant density from D20 to D10. The leaf capacity was significantly affected by N rate and plant density. The grain distribution characteristics of secondary branches on the panicle axis was closely related to yield. Correlation analysis showed the PTI was positively correlated with grain yield and net photosynthetic rate. These results suggested the improvement in PTI from 0.15 to 0.52 was beneficial to increase the grain yield, which might contribute to the increased grain number of secondary branches of the middle and bottom panicle.

Channel splitting attention network for low‐light image enhancement

Low-light enhancement is a crucial task in computer vision because of the limited dynamic range of digital imaging devices in poor lighting conditions. Images taken under low-light conditions often suffer from insufficient brightness and severe noise. At present, many models based on convolutional neural networks have been proposed to enhance low-light images. However, most models treat the features on different channels equally, which is not conducive to models learning hierarchical features. Consequently, the method proposed a channel splitting attention network (CSAN) that divides the shallow features into two branches, the residual and dense branches, transmitting different information. Residual branching facilitates feature reuse, while dense branching promotes the exploration of new features. In addition, CSAN uses merge-and-run mappings to assist information integration between different branches and distinguishes the information contained in different branch features through an attention module designed in this paper. Multiple experiment results show that the method proposed is superior to state-of-the-art methods in qualitative and quantitative evaluation. Furthermore, CSAN can better suppress chromaticity aberration while enhancing low-light images.

COMPARISON OF SIMPLE VISUAL AND AUDIOTORY REACTION TIMES OF MARTIAL ARTS ATHLETES

<p>Many fitness skills are required to be successful in martial arts sports. It is known that the reaction time is distinctive for performance in all martial arts, although the specific importance of different motoric features in sports branches is variable. The aim of this study is to compare simple visual and auditory reaction times of martial arts athletes. For this purpose, 48 male athletes between the ages of 15 and 25 who have been actively doing sports for at least 1 year in boxing, judo, karate, muay thai, kickboxing and taekwondo branches were voluntarily included in the study. Height, body weight, simple visual and auditory reaction time measurements were made by obtaining the age and year of starting sports of the athletes. There was no statistically significant difference between the visual and auditory reaction times according to the participants' age, body mass index and sports age variables (p<0.05). There was a statistically significant difference between the visual reaction times according to the success level variable of the participants, but no significant difference was found between the auditory reaction times (p<0.05). In terms of the sport branch variable of the participants, a statistically significant difference was found between the visual and auditory reaction times (p<0.05). Accordingly, it can be said that the visual reaction times of the athletes improve as the level of success increases, and the visual and auditory reaction times are more important in martial arts athletes (muay thai, karate taekwondo, kickboxing and boxing) where quickness, movement frequency and movement speed are important. As a result, it is thought that martial arts athletes who want to increase their level of success should include reaction time studies in their training programs. However, it is suggested that it would be beneficial to apply such studies to larger groups and to include women.</p><p> </p><p><strong> Article visualizations:</strong></p><p><img src="/-counters-/edu_01/0940/a.php" alt="Hit counter" /></p>

地下水埋深和季节性干旱对古尔班通古特沙漠南缘梭梭生理和生长的影响

PDF HTML阅读 XML下载 导出引用 引用提醒 地下水埋深和季节性干旱对古尔班通古特沙漠南缘梭梭生理和生长的影响 DOI: 10.5846/stxb202101190206 作者: 作者单位: 作者简介: 通讯作者: 中图分类号: 基金项目: 新疆维吾尔自治区天山青年计划项目（2020Q025）；国家自然科学基金项目（32171874）；新疆维吾尔自治区自然科学基金项目（2019D01A98） Effects of groundwater depth and seasonal drought on the physiology and growth of Haloxylon ammodendron at the southern edge of Gurbantonggut Desert Author: Affiliation: Fund Project: 摘要 | 图/表 | 访问统计 | 参考文献 | 相似文献 | 引证文献 | 资源附件 | 文章评论 摘要:干旱区因降水稀少，地下水成为荒漠植被重要且稳定的水源。选取古尔班通古特沙漠南缘建群种植物梭梭（Haloxylon ammodendron）为研究对象，通过测量不同地下水埋深（3.45、9.08、10.47、13.27 m和15.91 m）下生长季前期和后期同化枝生理生化指标（黎明水势、正午水势、含水量、氯离子、钠离子、脯氨酸和非结构性碳水化合物）和生长与形态特征（生长速率和胡伯尔值），旨在认识荒漠植物对地下水埋深增加和季节性干旱的响应特征和调节适应机制。结果表明：（1）梭梭应对地下水埋深变化的生理调节对策，是采取先降低后升高黎明前同化枝水势、降低新枝形成期同化枝生长速率、增大胡伯尔值和积累非结构性碳水化合物的策略；（2）梭梭应对生长季大气干旱的生理调节对策，是通过降低黎明前同化枝水势、维持较高胡伯尔值、积累钠离子和消耗淀粉抵御季节性干旱；（3）在大气干旱与地下水水文干旱交互作用下，梭梭是采取降低正午同化枝水势、维持较高的同化枝含水量和积累可溶性糖的生态策略。综上所述，梭梭在响应地下水水文干旱和季节性大气干旱的生理特征间存在差异。研究结果丰富了水文和大气干旱对梭梭生理和生长影响的认知，可以为基于地下水资源管理的干旱区荒漠植被保育提供参考。 Abstract:Groundwater is an important and stable water source for desert vegetation due to the scarcity of precipitation in arid areas. Currently, anthropogenic withdraw of groundwater and climatic drought further limits the water availability for phreatophytic vegetation in arid regions and results in the decline of native vegetation. However, how phreatophytic plant response and adaptation to reduced water availability along the groundwater depth gradient are not clear. Haloxylon ammodendron was widely distributed in northwest arid zone of China and played an important role in desertification control. Groundwater was an important water resource for H. ammodendron. The declining groundwater depth has caused the partially decline even death of H. ammodendron in their native distribution area. In this study, we selected H. ammodendron, one of the main constructive species, at the southern edge of Gurbantonggut Desert as the taget species. In order to understand the response characteristics and regulatory adaptation mechanisms of desert plants to increasing groundwater depth and seasonal drought, we measured physiological and biochemical traits (including predawn water potential, midday water potential, water content, sodium ion, chloride ion, proline and non-structural carbohydrates), growth and morphological characteristics (including growth rate and Huber value) of assimilation branches in the early and late growing season under different groundwater depths (3.45, 9.08, 10.47, 13.27 and 15.91 m). The results showed that:(1) H. ammodendron adopted the strategy of first decreasing and then increasing predawn assimilation branch water potential, decreasing assimilation branch growth rate during new branch formation, increasing the Huber value and accumulating non-structural carbohydrates in response to increase in groundwater depth. (2) With the prolonged drought, H. ammodendron reduced predawn assimilation branch water potential, maintained high Huber values, accumulated sodium ions and consumed starch to resist seasonal drought during the growing season. (3) Reducing midday assimilation branch water potential, maintaining high assimilation branch water content and accumulating soluble sugars are ecological strategies in H. ammodendron to acclimate atmospheric and hydrological drought. In summary, there are differences in the physiological characteristics of H. ammodendron in response to groundwater hydrological drought and seasonally atmospheric drought. The results of the study enriched the knowledge of the effects of hydrological and atmospheric drought on the physiology and growth of H. ammodendron, and provided a reference for the conservation of desert vegetation based on groundwater resource management in arid areas. 参考文献 相似文献 引证文献

Wear Behavior between a Jujube Branch and a Hammer Claw of a Jujube Branch Crusher

HighlightsThe wear behavior between the metal and the nonmetal was discussed.The wear characteristics between jujube branches and hammer claws at different sliding speeds were studied.The effects of the morphology of jujube branches and debris on wear behavior were analyzed.Abstract.A jujube branches crusher can effectively solve the difficult processing problem of the abandoned jujube branches, but the hammer claw, a key part in the crusher, often breaks due to wear. Studying the wear resistance of the hammer claw under different rotating speeds can improve the service life of the jujube branches crusher. The factors affecting the wear characteristics of the hammer claw were studied by means of scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS). Wear tests and theoretical calculations showed that the friction coefficient between the hammer claw and the jujube branches tended to decrease as the speed increased, and the friction coefficient was the lowest at 45 m/min. There are two reasons for this phenomenon. The first reason is that the physical characteristics of jujube branches lead to a decrease in the friction coefficient. Second, with increasing speed, the friction coefficient of the contact surface will be further reduced by the lamellar-type debris of the jujube branches and spherical debris of the hammer claw. This work should be able to provide an experimental and theoretical basis for the selection of the rotation speed of a jujube branches crusher under actual working conditions. Keywords: Characterization, Hammer claw, Jujube branches, Sliding speed, Wear.

Hierarchical volumetric transformer with comprehensive attention for medical image segmentation.

Transformer is widely used in medical image segmentation tasks due to its powerful ability to model global dependencies. However, most of the existing transformer-based methods are two-dimensional networks, which are only suitable for processing two-dimensional slices and ignore the linguistic association between different slices of the original volume image blocks. To solve this problem, we propose a novel segmentation framework by deeply exploring the respective characteristic of convolution, comprehensive attention mechanism, and transformer, and assembling them hierarchically to fully exploit their complementary advantages. Specifically, we first propose a novel volumetric transformer block to help extract features serially in the encoder and restore the feature map resolution to the original level in parallel in the decoder. It can not only obtain the information of the plane, but also make full use of the correlation information between different slices. Then the local multi-channel attention block is proposed to adaptively enhance the effective features of the encoder branch at the channel level, while suppressing the invalid features. Finally, the global multi-scale attention block with deep supervision is introduced to adaptively extract valid information at different scale levels while filtering out useless information. Extensive experiments demonstrate that our proposed method achieves promising performance on multi-organ CT and cardiac MR image segmentation.

HCNNet: A Hybrid Convolutional Neural Network for Spatiotemporal Image Fusion

In recent years, leaps and bounds have developed spatiotemporal fusion (STF) methods for remote sensing (RS) images based on deep learning. However, most existing methods utilize 2D convolution (Conv) to explore features. 3D Conv can explore time-dimensional features, but it requires more memory footprint and is rarely used. In addition, the current STF methods based on convolutional neural networks (CNNs) are mainly the following two: 1) Use 2D Conv to extract features from multiple bands of the input image together and fuse the features to predict the multiband image directly; 2) Use 2D Conv to extract features from individual bands of the image, predict the reflectance data of individual bands, and finally stack the predicted individual bands directly to synthesize the multiband image. The former method does not sufficiently consider the spectral and reflectance differences between different bands, and the latter does not consider the similarity of spatial structures between adjacent bands and the spectral correlation. To solve these problems, we propose a 2D/3D hybrid convolution neural network (CNN) called HCNNet, in which the 2D-CNN branch extracts the spatial information features of single-band image, and the 3D-CNN branch extracts spatiotemporal features of single-band images. After fusing the features of the dual branches, we introduce neighboring band features to share spatial information so that the information is complementary to obtain single-band features and images, and finally stack each single-band image to generate multiband images. Visual assessment and metric evaluation of the three publicly available datasets showed that our method predicted better images compared to the five methods.

Branch-Fusion-Net for Multi-Modal Continuous Dimensional Emotion Recognition

Regression modeling is a significant aspect of multi-modal continuous dimensional emotion recognition. Despite the developments of this domain, one of the limitations that severely impede the application of emotion recognition is that most methods utilized for regression modeling merely capture the temporal information. Motivated by this, we propose a new branch feature fusion framework BF-Net, whose core idea is to deeply combine local features captured by convolutional neural networks and temporal dependencies captured by long-short-term memory recurrent neural networks. The framework consists of two main components: two-branch structure and fusion of branches. The former captures local features and temporal dependencies respectively in an effective way. Besides, the latter utilizes an attention mechanism to fuse the features on a deep level. In this way, the framework achieves full utilization of the local features and temporal dependencies. The experiments on ULM-TSST dataset show that the proposed method is competitive or superior to the state-of-the-art works.

Dual branch feature fusion network based gait recognition algorithm

Dual branch feature fusion network based gait recognition algorithm

MSC-Net: Multitask Learning Network for Retinal Vessel Segmentation and Centerline Extraction

Automatic segmentation and centerline extraction of blood vessels from retinal fundus images is an essential step to measure the state of retinal blood vessels and achieve the goal of auxiliary diagnosis. Combining the information of blood vessel segments and centerline can help improve the continuity of results and performance. However, previous studies have usually treated these two tasks as separate research topics. Therefore, we propose a novel multitask learning network (MSC-Net) for retinal vessel segmentation and centerline extraction. The network uses a multibranch design to combine information between two tasks. Channel and atrous spatial fusion block (CAS-FB) is designed to fuse and correct the features of different branches and different scales. The clDice loss function is also used to constrain the topological continuity of blood vessel segments and centerline. Experimental results on different fundus blood vessel datasets (DRIVE, STARE, and CHASE) show that our method can obtain better segmentation and centerline extraction results at different scales and has better topological continuity than state-of-the-art methods.

Multi-scale structure of A- and B-type granules of normal and waxy hull-less barley starch

The multi-scale structure of combined (A- and B- type granules), A-type, and B-type granules from normal (NHB) and waxy hull-less barley (WHB) starch was studied, including crystalline structure, molecular branching, nanostructural and fractal characteristics. Particle size distribution was applied to determine the separation purity (>95%), and micrography was used to distinguish between the A-type and B-type granules. Lacking amylose, WHB had higher relative crystallinity, gelatinization temperature, enthalpy, level of scattering intensity and uniformity of orientation of double helices than NHB starch. Generally, B-type granules had higher gelatinization temperature, lower enthalpy, greater relative crystallinity, higher ratio of crystalline to amorphous region, more fa chains in amylopectin, and thicker semi-crystalline lamellae than A-type and combined granules. The results showed that the multi-scale structure of A-type and B-type granules differed greatly, and the characteristics of combined granules were not the same as those of its two constituent granule fractions.

Influence of the chemical mutagens on the seed germination, the growth and manifestation of decorative characteristics in the seed offspring of the representatives of the genus Pinus L.

The influence of various concentrations of chemical mutagens on the seed germination, the growth and manifestation of decorative traits in the seed offspring of mountain pine (Pinus mugo Turra), Scots pine (Pinus sylvesrtis L.), and Scots pine “witch’s broom” (“WB”) is assessed. A 0.1 % aqueous solution of colchicine, as well as 0.1, 0.5, and 1.0 % aqueous solutions of dimethyl sulfate (DMS) was used as mutagens. The species-specificity of the influence of chemical mutagens on the seed germination was established. Thus, the treatment of mountain pine seeds with aqueous solutions of colchicine and DMS had some stimulating influence on their germination. On the contrary, the germination of the Scots pine seeds and the seeds collected from the Scots pine “WB” decreased with increasing the DMS concentration in the solution. Among the offspring obtained using chemical mutagens, specimens were identified with changes in the growth strength towards dwarfism, the branching features of which manifested themselves in the form of apical dominance violation and shoot formation growth, with changes in the color of needles, including winter color changes of different-intensity color from green to yellow, bronze or bronze yellow. As a result of the research, 363 specimens with atypical traits were selected for further breeding work.

Corrosion Cast and 3D Reconstruction of the Murine Biliary Tree After Biliary Obstruction: Quantitative Assessment and Comparison With 2D Histology

Obstructive cholestasis can lead to significant alterations of the biliary tree depending on the extent and duration of the biliary occlusion. Current experimental studies reported about advanced techniques for corrosion cast and 3D reconstruction (3D-reco) visualizing delicate microvascular structures in animals. We compared these two different techniques for visualization and quantitative assessment of the obstructed murine biliary tree with classical 2D histology. Male mice (n= 36) were allocated to 3 different experiments. In experiments 1 and 2, we injected two different media (Microfil© for 3D-reco, MV; Batson's No.17 for corrosion cast, CC) into the extrahepatic bile duct. In experiment 3 we sampled liver tissue for 2D histology (HE, BrdU). Time points of interest were days 1, 3, 5, 7, 14, and 28 after biliary occlusion. We used different types of software for quantification of the different samples: IMALYTICS Preclinical for 3D scans (MV); NDP.view2 for the digital photography of CC; HistoKat software for 2D histology. We achieved samples in 75% of the animals suitable for evaluation (MV and CC, each with9/12). Contrasting of terminal bile ducts (4th order of branches) was achieved with either technique. MV permitted a fast 3D-reco of the hierarchy of the biliary tree, including the 3rd and 4th order of branches in almost all samples (8/9 and 6/9). CC enabled focused evaluation of the hierarchy of the biliary tree, including the 4th to 5th order of branches in almost all samples (9/9 and 8/9). In addition, we detected dense meshes of the smallest bile ducts in almost all CC samples (8/9). MV and CC allowed a quantitative assessment of anatomical details of the 3rd and 4th order branches of almost every sample. The 2D histology identified different kinetics and areas of proliferation of hepatocytes and cholangiocytes. Complementary usage of 3D-reco, corrosion casting and 2D histology matched dense meshes of small bile ducts with areas of intensive proliferative activity of cholangiocytes as periportal proliferative areas of 4th and 5th order branches (∼terminal bile ducts and bile ductules) matched with its morphological information the matching assessment of areas with increased proliferative activity (BrdU) and a partial quantification of the characteristics of the 4th order branches of the biliary tree. The 3D-reco and corrosion casting of the murine biliary tree are feasibleand provide a straightforward, robust, and reliable (and more economical) procedure for the visualization and quantitative assessment of architectural alterations, in comparative usage with the 2D histology.

Social capital of the agricultural sphere: indicators of measurement for conditions of formation and results of use

Purpose. The aim of the article is to reveal the theoretical and methodological approaches to the assessment of social capital and to build a system of indicators of its formation and results of use in the agricultural sector.
 Methodology / approach. The theoretical-and-methodological basis of the study are the conceptual provisions of economic theory, which allow determining the principles of creation and use of social capital. In the research we used methods of theoretical generalization, analysis and synthesis (to determine the object and objectives of the study); system approach (to identify components of social capital); systematization and classification (to determine the system of indicators that determine the formation and use of social capital); analysis of hierarchies (for comparative analysis of social capital of agricultural holdings).
 Results. Based on a critical review of literature sources, scientific trends in the assessment of social capital were systematized. There are determined new conceptual approaches to the development of indicators of social capital of the agricultural sector for meso- and microlevels, which take into account industry specifics, are determined by groups of factors of its formation and results of use, and reflect the main components of social capital – innovation (norms), relational (trust) and structural (social networks) social capital. On the basis of the method of analysis of hierarchies the comparative it was carried out an estimation of factors of formation of social capital of two domestic agroholdings which results correspond to results of the analysis of indicators of results of its use
 Originality / scientific novelty. The methodological bases of the analysis of social capital of the agrarian sphere through complex measurement of its components by means of system of indicators on meso- and microlevels taking into account branch features were improved, factors of formation and results of use of social capital were systematized.
 Practical value / implications. The obtained results allow substantiating the key approaches to measuring the social capital of the agricultural sector, which makes it possible to obtain comprehensive information for decision-making regarding its further formation and effective use.

Prophylactic sac outflow vessel embolization is associated with improved sac regression in patients undergoing endovascular aortic aneurysm repair

ObjectiveType II endoleaks (T2Es), often identified after endovascular aneurysm repair (EVAR), have been associated with late endograft failure and secondary rupture. The number and size of the patent aortic aneurysm sac outflow vessels (ie, the inferior mesenteric, lumbar, and accessory renal arteries) have been implicated as known risk factors for persistent T2Es. Given the technical challenges associated with post-EVAR embolization, prophylactic embolization of aortic aneurysm sac outflow vessels has been advocated to prevent T2Es; however, the evidence available at present is limited. We sought to examine the effects of concomitant prophylactic aortic aneurysm sac outflow vessel embolization in patients undergoing EVAR. MethodsPatients aged ≥18 years included in the Society for Vascular Surgery Vascular Quality Initiative database who had undergone elective EVAR for intact aneurysms between January 2009 and November 2020 were included in the present study. Patients with a history of prior aortic repair and those without available follow-up data were excluded. The patient demographics, operative characteristics, and outcomes were analyzed by group: EVAR alone vs EVAR with prophylactic sac outflow vessel embolization (emboEVAR). The outcomes of interest were the in-hospital postoperative complication rates, incidence of aneurysmal sac regression (≥5 mm) and T2Es, and reintervention rates during follow-up. ResultsA total of 15,060 patients were included. Of these patients, 272 had undergone emboEVAR and 14,788 had undergone EVAR alone. No significant differences were found between the two groups in age, comorbidities, or anatomic characteristics, including the mean maximum preoperative aortic diameter (5.5 vs 5.6 cm; P = .48). emboEVAR was associated with significantly longer procedural times (148 vs 124 minutes; P < .0001), prolonged fluoroscopy times (32 vs 23 minutes; P < .0001), increased contrast use (105 vs 91 mL; P < .0001), without a significant reduction in T2Es at case completion (17.7% vs 16.3%; P = .54). The incidence of postoperative complications (3.7% vs 4.6%; P = .56), index hospitalization reintervention rates (0.7% vs 1.3%; P = .59), length of stay (1.8 vs 2 days; P = .75), and 30-day mortality (0% vs 0%; P = 1.00) were similar between the two groups. At mid-term follow-up (14.6 ± 6.2 months), the emboEVAR group had a significantly greater mean reduction in the maximum aortic diameter (0.69 vs 0.54 cm; P = .006), with a greater proportion experiencing sac regression of ≥5 mm (53.5% vs 48.7%). The reintervention rates were similar between the two groups. On multivariable analysis, prophylactic aortic aneurysm sac outflow vessel embolization (odds ratio, 1.34; 95% confidence interval, 1.04-1.74; P = .024) was a significant independent predictor of sac regression. ConclusionsProphylactic sac outflow vessel embolization can be performed safely for patients with intact aortic aneurysms undergoing elective EVAR without significant associated perioperative morbidity or mortality. emboEVAR was associated with significant sac regression compared with EVAR alone at mid-term follow-up. Although no decrease was found in the incidence of T2Es, this technique shows promise, and future efforts should focus on identifying a subset of aneurysm and outflow branch characteristics that will benefit from concomitant selective vs complete prophylactic sac outflow vessel embolization.

Underwater Target Signal Classification Using the Hybrid Routing Neural Network.

In signal analysis and processing, underwater target recognition (UTR) is one of the most important technologies. Simply and quickly identify target types using conventional methods in underwater acoustic conditions is quite a challenging task. The problem can be conveniently handled by a deep learning network (DLN), which yields better classification results than conventional methods. In this paper, a novel deep learning method with a hybrid routing network is considered, which can abstract the features of time-domain signals. The used network comprises multiple routing structures and several options for the auxiliary branch, which promotes impressive effects as a result of exchanging the learned features of different branches. The experiment shows that the used network possesses more advantages in the underwater signal classification task.

Microanatomy of the Frontal Branch of the Facial Nerve: The Role of Nerve Caliber and Axonal Capacity.

A commonly seen issue in facial palsy patients is brow ptosis caused by paralysis of the frontalis muscle powered by the frontal branch of the facial nerve. Predominantly, static methods are used for correction. Functional restoration concepts include the transfer of the deep temporal branch of the trigeminal nerve and cross-facial nerve grafts. Both techniques can neurotize the original mimic muscles in early cases or power muscle transplants in late cases. Because axonal capacity is particularly important in cross-facial nerve graft procedures, the authors investigated the microanatomical features of the frontal branch to provide the basis for its potential use and to ease intraoperative donor nerve selection. Nerve biopsy specimens from 106 fresh-frozen cadaver facial halves were obtained. Histologic processing and digitalization were followed by nerve morphometric analysis and semiautomated axon quantification. The frontal branch showed a median of three fascicles (n = 100; range, one to nine fascicles). A mean axonal capacity of 1191 ± 668 axons (range, 186 to 3539 axons; n = 88) and an average cross-sectional diameter of 1.01 ± 0.26 mm (range, 0.43 to 1.74 mm; n = 67) were noted. In the linear regression model, diameter and axonal capacity demonstrated a positive relation (n = 57; r2 = 0.32; p < 0.001). Based on that equation, a nerve measuring 1 mm is expected to carry 1339 axons. The authors' analysis on the microanatomy of the frontal branch could promote clinical use of cross-facial nerve graft procedures in frontalis muscle neurotization and free muscle transplantations.

ANALYSIS OF GENETIC DIVERSITY OF 26 CASSAVA VARIETIES (Manihot esculenta CRANTZ) WITH DIFFERENT RESPONSES TO WATERLOGGING CONDITIONS BY USING RAPD MARKERS

RAPD (Randomly Amplified Polymorphic DNA) is an indicator for high and stable polymorphism, widely used in the study of the diversity of cassava. In this paper, the results of using 20 polymorphic primers OPK combined with the establishment of the phylogenetic tree to analyze the genetic diversity of 26 cassava varieties with different responses to waterlogging conditions by using the RAPD-PCR technique were presented. The purpose of this experiment was to show the genetic relevance of the studied cassava varieties. The results showed that the flood tolerance of cassava was not related to the polymorphism and branching characteristics of the stem. This information may be use as a basis for selecting flood-tolerant cassava varieties for cassava production, as well as the basis for selecting genetically different parents for breeding.

Ensemble cross‐stage partial attention network for image classification

This paper proposes a novel image classification architecture named ensemble cross-stage partial attention network based on the backbone network DarkNet53 of Yolov3 to improve the feature extraction capability and the interpretability of image classification. This network has multiple advantages, including light model parameters, fast classification speed, and high classification accuracy for small objects and complex images. Local network architectures of different cross-phases are added in the proposed network structure to reduce the calculation. Furthermore, channel and hybrid domain attention modules, which, respectively, fuse the branch feature with the extracted channel and spatial attention features, are designed for feature extraction of images. Experimental results confirm the improved performance of the proposed approach on the CIFAR-100, ImageNet, and UCMerced datasets. In addition, experiments on the MSCOCO dataset suggest the application of the proposed method to object detection with satisfactory accuracy.