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Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) systems are novel sensors that provide robust distance and reflection strength by active pulsed laser beams. They have significant advantages over visual cameras by providing active depth and intensity measurements that are robust to ambient illumination. However, the systemsstill pay limited attention to intensity measurements since the output intensity maps of LiDAR sensors are different from conventional cameras and are too sparse. In this work, we propose exploiting the information from both intensity and depth measurements simultaneously to complete the LiDAR intensity maps. With the completed intensity maps, mature computer vision techniques can work well on the LiDAR data without any specific adjustment. We propose an end-to-end convolutional neural network named LiDAR-Net to jointly complete the sparse intensity and depth measurements by exploiting their correlations. For network training, an intensity fusion method is proposed to generate the ground truth. Experiment results indicate that intensity–depth fusion can benefit the task and improve performance. We further apply an off-the-shelf object (lane) segmentation algorithm to the completed intensity maps, which delivers consistent robust to ambient illumination performance. We believe that the intensity completion method allows LiDAR sensors to cope with a broader range of practice applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, a simultaneous localization and mapping (SLAM) method that eliminates the influence of moving objects in dynamic environments is proposed. This method utilizes the correlation between map points to separate points that are part of the static scene and points that are part of different moving objects into different groups. A sparse graph is first created using Delaunay triangulation from all map points. In this graph, the vertices represent map points, and each edge represents the correlation between adjacent points. If the relative position between two points remains consistent over time, there is correlation between them, and they are considered to be moving together rigidly. If not, they are considered to have no correlation and to be in separate groups. After the edges between the uncorrelated points are removed during point-correlation optimization, the remaining graph separates the map points of the moving objects from the map points of the static scene. The largest group is assumed to be the group of reliable static map points. Finally, motion estimation is performed using only these points. The proposed method was implemented for RGB-D sensors, evaluated with a public RGB-D benchmark, and tested in several additional challenging environments. The experimental results demonstrate that robust and accurate performance can be achieved by the proposed SLAM method in both slightly and highly dynamic environments. Compared with other state-of-the-art methods, the proposed method can provide competitive accuracy with good real-time performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

(±)- epi -Costunolide has been synthesized through a seven-step procedure starting from (E , E)-farnesol. The key step includes an intramolecular allylation of an aldehyde through a chromium(II)-mediated Nozaki–Hiyama–Kishi reaction, in which more than one equivalent of CrCl2 has been recognized as the most effective reagent to promote the conversion. An anti-inflammatory screen showed that epi -costunolide is a moderate inhibitor of B lymphocyte proliferation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] • The study reports synthesis of gold-graphene quantum dots hybrid with mulberry-like structure. • The formation of three-dimensional conductive network results in high electrocatalytic activity. • The constructed sensor has high sensitivity, good selectivity and stability to imidacloprid. • This study provides a feasible way for preparation of metal-graphene with high catalytic activity. The rapid synthesis of gold nanocrystal with high catalytic activity is still a great challenge to improve the analytical performance of electrochemical sensors. In this paper, gold-arginine-threonine functionalized graphene quantum dot hybrid (Au-Arg-Thr-GQD) was synthesized by a simple and fast one-step method using Arg-Thr-GQD as reductant, stabilizer and crosslinker. The Au-Arg-Thr-GQD offers mulberry-shaped structure by the interconnection and self-assembly of Arg-Thr-GQD and small-sized Au nanocrystals. The unique structure significantly improves the catalytic activity of hybrid. Au-Arg-Thr-GQD was used as a sensing material for electrochemical analysis of imidacloprid. Under the optimal conditions, the differential pulse voltammetry peak current linearly increased with the increasing of imidacloprid concentration in the range of 0.1–20 μM with the detection limit of 0.011 μM. The proposed imidacloprid sensor shows high selectivity, good stability and reproducibility, and has been successfully applied to the determination of imidacloprid in cabbage and cucumber samples. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Microtubule-targeted drugs are the most effective drugs for adult patients with certain solid tumors. Taccalonolide AJ (AJ) can stabilize tubulin polymerization by covalently binding to β-tubulin, which enables it to play a role in the treatment of tumors. However, its clinical applications are largely limited by low water solubility, chemical instability in water, and a narrow therapeutic window. Clear-cell renal-cell carcinoma (cc RCC) accounts for approximately 70% of RCC cases and is prone to resistance to particularly targeted therapy drugs. Methods: we prepared a water-soluble cyclodextrin-based carrier to serve as an effective treatment for cc RCC. Results: Compared with AJ, taccalonolide AJ-hydroxypropyl-β-cyclodextrin (AJ-HP-β-CD) exhibited superior selectivity and activity toward the cc RCC cell line 786-O vs. normal kidney cells by inducing apoptosis and cell cycle arrest and inhibiting migration and invasion of tumor cells in vitro. According to acute toxicity testing, the maximum tolerated dose (MTD) of AJ-HP-β-CD was 10.71 mg/kg, which was 20 times greater than that of AJ. Assessment of weight changes showed that mouse body weight recovered over 7–8 days, and the toxicity could be greatly reduced by adjusting the injections from once every three days to once per week. In addition, we inoculated 786-O cells to generate xenografted mice to evaluate the anti-tumor activity of AJ-HP-β-CD in vivo and found that AJ-HP-β-CD had a better tumor inhibitory effect than that of docetaxel and sunitinib in terms of tumor growth and endpoint tumor weight. These results indicated that cyclodextrin inclusion greatly increased the anti-tumor therapeutic window of AJ. Conclusions: the AJ-HP-β-CD complex developed in this study may prove to be a novel tubulin stabilizer for the treatment of cc RCC. In addition, this drug delivery system may broaden the horizon in the translational study of other chemotherapeutic drugs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]