Shanghai University

About: Shanghai University is a education organization based out in Shanghai, Shanghai, China. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Microstructure & Graphene. The organization has 59583 authors who have published 56840 publications receiving 753549 citations. The organization is also known as: Shànghǎi Dàxué.

Unsupervised Salient Object Segmentation Based on Kernel Density Estimation and Two-Phase Graph Cut

Abstract: In this paper, we propose an unsupervised salient object segmentation approach based on kernel density estimation (KDE) and two-phase graph cut. A set of KDE models are first constructed based on the pre-segmentation result of the input image, and then for each pixel, a set of likelihoods to fit all KDE models are calculated accordingly. The color saliency and spatial saliency of each KDE model are then evaluated based on its color distinctiveness and spatial distribution, and the pixel-wise saliency map is generated by integrating likelihood measures of pixels and saliency measures of KDE models. In the first phase of salient object segmentation, the saliency map based graph cut is exploited to obtain an initial segmentation result. In the second phase, the segmentation is further refined based on an iterative seed adjustment method, which efficiently utilizes the information of minimum cut generated using the KDE model based graph cut, and exploits a balancing weight update scheme for convergence of segmentation refinement. Experimental results on a dataset containing 1000 test images with ground truths demonstrate the better segmentation performance of our approach.

Integrating Network Pharmacology and Pharmacological Evaluation for Deciphering the Action Mechanism of Herbal Formula Zuojin Pill in Suppressing Hepatocellular Carcinoma.

Abstract: Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is a kind of complicated disease with an increasing incidence all over the world. A classic Chinese medicine formula, Zuojin pill (ZJP), was shown to exert therapeutic effects on HCC. However, its chemical and pharmacological profiles remain to be elucidated. In the current study, network pharmacology approach was applied to characterize the action mechanism of ZJP on HCC. All compounds were obtained from the corresponding databases, and active compounds were selected according to their oral bioavailability and drug-likeness index. The potential proteins of ZJP were obtained from the traditional Chinese medicine systems pharmacology (TCMSP) database and the traditional Chinese medicine integrated database (TCMID), whereas the potential genes of HCC were obtained from OncoDB.HCC and Liverome databases. The potential pathways related to genes were determined by gene ontology (GO) and pathway enrichment analyses. The compound-target and target-pathway networks were constructed. Subsequently, the potential underlying action mechanisms of ZJP on HCC predicted by the network pharmacology analyses were experimentally validated in HCC cellular and orthotopic HCC implantation murine models. A total of 224 components in ZJP were obtained, among which, 42 were chosen as bioactive components. The compound-target network included 32 compounds and 86 targets, whereas the target-pathway network included 70 proteins and 75 pathways. The in vitro and in vivo experiments validated that ZJP exhibited its prominent therapeutic effects on HCC mainly via the regulation of cell proliferation and survival though the EGFR/MAPK, PI3K/NF-κB, and CCND1 signaling pathways. In conclusion, our study suggested combination of network pharmacology prediction with experimental validation may offer a useful tool to characterize the molecular mechanism of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) ZJP on HCC.

Fabrication of ZnIn2S4–g-C3N4 sheet-on-sheet nanocomposites for efficient visible-light photocatalytic H2-evolution and degradation of organic pollutants

Abstract: ZnIn2S4–g-C3N4 sheet-on-sheet nanocomposites with different g-C3N4 contents were synthesized by a facile hydrothermal method and characterized by thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), X-ray diffraction (XRD), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), high-resolution transmission electron microcopy (HRTEM), N2 adsorption–desorption, ultraviolet-visible diffuse reflection spectroscopy (DRS), photoluminescence (PL) spectroscopy and photoelectrochemical (PEC) experiments. The photocatalytic activities of these samples were evaluated by the photocatalytic H2-production and degradation of organic pollutants (methyl orange and phenol) under visible-light illumination (λ > 420 nm). The results showed that the ZnIn2S4–g-C3N4 composite photocatalysts displayed higher photocatalytic activity than the pristine g-C3N4 and ZnIn2S4 both for H2-evolution and degradation of pollutants. The optimal g-C3N4 content was determined to be 40 wt%, and the corresponding H2-production rate was 953.5 μmol h−1 g−1, which was about 1.91 times higher than that of pure ZnIn2S4. The enhanced photocatalytic activity of ZnIn2S4–g-C3N4 composites should be attributed to the well-matched band structure and intimate contact interfaces between ZnIn2S4 and g-C3N4, which led to the effective transfer and separation of the photogenerated charge carriers. Moreover, the ZnIn2S4–g-C3N4 composites showed excellent stability during the photocatalytic reactions under visible light. A possible mechanism of the enhanced photocatalytic activity of ZnIn2S4–g-C3N4 composites was proposed and supported by the PL and PEC results.

Strong grain-size effect on deformation twinning of an Al0.1CoCrFeNi high-entropy alloy

Abstract: An Al0.1CoCrFeNi high-entropy alloy (HEA) with a face-centered cubic structure in the as-cast and the recrystallized states is investigated. The mean grain size of the as-cast HEA is 14 times larger than that of the recrystallized HEA. The tension tests reveal that deformation twinning is the main mechanism dominating the plastic deformation of two HEAs. With a decrease in the grain size, twin spacing increases, and twin thickness decreases, which results in a low twinning activity. The twinning activity of the recrystallized HEA is strongly inhibited by grain refinement, which degrades the promotion of twinning on the strain-hardening ability and the tensile ductility.