When Causal Intervention Meets Adversarial Examples and Image Masking for Deep Neural Networks

Discovering and exploiting the causality in deep neural networks (DNNs) are crucial challenges for understanding and reasoning causal effects (CE) on an explainable visual model. "Intervention" has been widely used for recognizing a causal relation ontologically. In this paper, we propose a causal inference framework for visual reasoning via do-calculus. To study the intervention effects on pixel-level features for causal reasoning, we introduce pixel-wise masking and adversarial perturbation. In our framework, CE is calculated using features in a latent space and perturbed prediction from a DNN-based model. We further provide the first look into the characteristics of discovered CE of adversarially perturbed images generated by gradient-based methods \footnote{~~https://github.com/jjaacckkyy63/Causal-Intervention-AE-wAdvImg}. Experimental results show that CE is a competitive and robust index for understanding DNNs when compared with conventional methods such as class-activation mappings (CAMs) on the Chest X-Ray-14 dataset for human-interpretable feature(s) (e.g., symptom) reasoning. Moreover, CE holds promises for detecting adversarial examples as it possesses distinct characteristics in the presence of adversarial perturbations.Comment: Noted our camera-ready version has changed the title. "When Causal Intervention Meets Adversarial Examples and Image Masking for Deep Neural Networks" as the v3 official paper title in IEEE Proceeding. Please use it in your formal reference. Accepted at IEEE ICIP 2019. Pytorch code has released on https://github.com/jjaacckkyy63/Causal-Intervention-AE-wAdvIm

An Economy-wide Analysis of Impacts of WTO Tiered Formula for Tariff Reduction on Taiwan

In this study we use Taiwan as a case study to provide an economy-wide analysis of impacts on Taiwan of WTO tariff reduction schemes with different combinations of thresholds and reduction rates. The model we utilized in this study is Taiwan General Equilibrium Model with a WTO module (TAIGEM-WTO, hereafter) that is a multi-sectoral computable general equilibrium (CGE) model of the Taiwan's economy derived from Australian ORANI model (Dixon, Parmenter, Sutton and Vincent, 1982). Simulation results show that results are more sensitive to the scheme of tariff-reduction (i.e., Category 1, 2, and 3) than the tiered levels (i.e., A, B, C, and D) and as a strategy we should pay more attention to the arguments related to the amounts of tariff-reduction. Moreover, changes in nominal average tariff rates are more sensitive and shocks to the economy are more severe when we change the tariff reduction categories rather than the tiered levels. This conclusion also applies to the tiered reduction case when only sensitive products are considered. Finally, simulations with sector's bound rate calculated using arithmetic means have bigger effects than those using import values as weights. Therefore, sector's bound rate using import values as weights would be preferred.International Relations/Trade,

タバコ懸濁培養細胞におけるアルミニウムの二価鉄、銅およびカドミウム毒性に対する影響

The effects of aluminum (Al) on the cytotoxicity of ferrous iron (Fe(Ⅱ)), copper(Cu) and cadmium(Cd) were studied. Log-phase cells were treated with either FeSO4,CuSO4, or CdCl2 in the presence or absence of AlCl3(120μM) for 18h at pH 4.0. After the treatment, the viability was determined as relative growth of the metal-treated cells to the untreated control cells during the post-treated culture. A single treated with either Al, Fe(Ⅱ) or Cd did not inhibit the growth at the metal concerntrations up to 300 μM, 200 μM and 500 μM, respectively, whereas the growth was markedly inhibited at 15 μM Cu. Thus,the cells were relatively insensitive to Al, Fe(Ⅱ) and Cd and sensitive to Cu. When cells were treated with both Fe(Ⅱ)(120 μM)and Al(120μM), the growth was significantly inhibited and the cellular contents of both Al and Fe increased synergistically. After the treatment with Cu(0 to 10 μM) with or without Al, the cells grew more vigorously when they were treated in the presence of Al, althrouh the Cu content of the cells were not alterd by Al. The presence of Al during the treatmemt with Cd(0 to 2 μM) had no effect on the degree of growth inhibition by Cd. Thus, Al interacts with the toxicity of Fe(Ⅱ), Cu and Cd in different manners; synergistic with Fe(Ⅱ), antagonistic with Cu and apparently no effeco on Cd.二価鉄[Fe(Ⅱ)]、銅（Cu)およびカドミウム（Cd）の細胞毒性に対するアルミニウム（Al）の効果について検討した。120μM AlCl3の存在もしくは非存在下において、対数増殖期の細胞をFeSO4,CuSO4,CdCl2で各々18時間、pH4.0で処理した。処理後の生存率は、処理後の細胞を増殖させたのちに、未処理細胞（コントロール）の増殖に対する金属で処理した細胞の相対増殖率で求めた。Al,Fe(Ⅱ),Cdの単独処理による増殖阻害は、各々300μM、200μM、500μMの濃度まで観察されなかったが、Cuでは15μMで大きく阻害された。このように、タバコ細胞は相対的にAl、Fe（Ⅱ）、Cdには感受性が低く、Cuには感受性が高かった。細胞をFe（Ⅱ）およびAlの両方で処理すると、増殖は著しく阻害され、AlおよびFeの細胞内含量も相乗的に増加した。Cuで処理した場合、Alを加えることにより逆に増殖率が増加した。しかし、細胞内Cu含量はAlの影響を受けなかった。Cd処理の場合、Alを加えてもCdによる増殖阻害の程度は変わらなかった。このように、AlはFe（Ⅱ）、Cu、Cd毒性に対して各々異なる相互作用を示し、Fe（Ⅱ）に対し、相乗効果を、Cuに対しては拮抗的な阻害を示したが、Cdに対してはみかけ上効果がなかった

Effect of non-lattice oxygen on ZrO2-based resistive switching memory

ZrO2-based resistive switching memory has attracted much attention according to its possible application in the next-generation nonvolatile memory. The Al/ZrO2/Pt resistive switching memory with bipolar resistive switching behavior is revealed in this work. The thickness of the ZrO2 film is only 20 nm. The device yield improved by the non-lattice oxygen existing in the ZrO2 film deposited at room temperature is firstly proposed. The stable resistive switching behavior and the long retention time with a large current ratio are also observed. Furthermore, it is demonstrated that the resistive switching mechanism agrees with the formation and rupture of a conductive filament in the ZrO2 film. In addition, the Al/ZrO2/Pt resistive switching memory is also possible for application in flexible electronic equipment because it can be fully fabricated at room temperature

A simple marking system for accurate intraoperative monitoring and adjustment of cyclotorsion strabismus surgery

Ocular cyclotorsion is treatable only with surgery. The surgical procedure must be tailored individually to the specific etiologies causing the horizontal and vertical strabismus and its torsional components. An adjustable surgical approach is often used for postoperative or intraoperative adjustments. However, the methods currently used have some limitations. In this study, we propose a simple intraoperative marking system for all cyclotorsion correction surgery. The proposed marking system used three sets of surface markers: external horizontal markings, ocular horizontal markings, and surgical torsion markings, drawn in sequence. We retrospectively analyzed the surgical results using this novel marking system in this single-center, single-surgeon study. Fifteen patients with cyclotorsion who underwent treatment using the proposed marking system as an intraoperative aid between August 2019 and August 2021 were included. The medical charts were thoroughly reviewed, and the pre-and postoperative subjective and objective cyclotorsion were analyzed. Among the study subjects (10 males, 5 females; age range: 6–89 years), 13 had excyclotorsion and 2 incyclotorsion. Preoperative mean net subjective cyclotorsion measured by the double Maddox rod (DMR) test was 6.0° (standard deviation: 10.8°) and mean net disc-to-fovea angle (DFA) was 20.23° (13.21°). The postoperative net DMR and DFA were 0.2° (2.1°) and 14.09° (5.97°), respectively. The mean absolute net DMR and DFA being treated were 9.8° (4.8°) and 9.76° (4.61°). Overall, the proposed intraoperative marking system is a simple and quantitative method to assess, monitor, and adjust the torsional aspect for all strabismus surgeries

Engulfing cells promote neuronal regeneration and remove neuronal debris through distinct biochemical functions of CED-1

Two important biological events happen coincidently soon after nerve injury in the peripheral nervous system in C. elegans: removal of axon debris and initiation of axon regeneration. But, it is not known how these two events are co-regulated. Mutants of ced-1, a homolog of Draper and MEGF10, display defects in both events. One model is that those events could be related. But our data suggest that they are actually separable. CED-1 functions in the muscle-type engulfing cells in both events and is enriched in muscle protrusions in close contact with axon debris and regenerating axons. Its two functions occur through distinct biochemical mechanisms; extracellular domain-mediated adhesion for regeneration and extracellular domain binding-induced intracellular domain signaling for debris removal. These studies identify CED-1 in engulfing cells as a receptor in debris removal but as an adhesion molecule in neuronal regeneration, and have important implications for understanding neural circuit repair after injury

Anthropomorphism of AI-based Intelligent Customer Service, and Its Affective and Behavioral Consequences

Recently, as many users turn to social media to interact with service providers, organizations apply Artificial intelligence (AI) to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the operation. This type of customer service system is called intelligent customer service (ICS) which one of the most commonly adopted tools is chatbot. Since chatbot is AI-empowered, whether this system can effectively interact with customers and solve their problems is critical. However, the quality of ICS has received significant attention recently, and a lack of systematic study on the outcomes of anthropomorphism leaves this question unanswered in an ICS context. Based on a cognitive-affective-behavioral framework, this study attempts to understand whether anthropomorphism can promote desired behaviors (including usage and citizen-ship behaviors) through enhancing affective out-comes, such as satisfaction and identity. Data collected from 183 chatbot-ICS users, this study illustrates how anthropomorphism can increase quality, enhance satisfaction and identity. Furthermore, we also show that satisfaction and identity lead to further usage and citizenship behaviors. This highlights the importance of increasing anthropomorphism for the chatbot-ICS

Factors associated with outcomes of second-line treatment for EGFR-mutant non-small-cell lung cancer patients after progression on first- or second-generation EGFR-tyrosine kinase inhibitor treatment

PurposeEpidermal growth factor receptor-tyrosine kinase inhibitors (EGFR-TKIs) are standard first-line treatments for advanced EGFR-mutant non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients. However, factors associated with outcomes after progression on first-line therapy are seldom investigated.Materials and methodsFrom January 2016 to December 2020, we enrolled 242 EGFR-mutant stage IIIB–IV NSCLC patients who progressed on first- or second-generation EGFR-TKI treatments, and 206 of them receive second-line treatments after disease progression. The factors that predict the survival outcomes of different second-line treatments after disease progression were evaluated. Clinical and demographic characteristics, including metastatic sites, neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR) at first-line progression, and second-line treatment regimens, and whether re-biopsied after disease progression or not, were reviewed for outcome analysis.ResultsThe univariate analysis showed that the PFS was shorted in male patients (p =0.049), patients with ECOG performance state ≥ 2 (p =0.014), former smokers (p =0.003), patients with brain metastasis (p =0.04), second-line chemotherapy or EGFR-TKIs other than osimertinib (p =0.002), and NLR ≥5.0 (p=0.024). In addition, second-line osimertinib was associated with longer OS compared to chemotherapy and other EGFR-TKI treatment (p =0.001). In the multivariate analysis, only second-line osimertinib was an independent predictor of PFS (p =0.023). Re-biopsy after first-line treatment was associated with a trend of better OS. Patients with NLR ≥5.0 at disease progression had shorter OS than patients with NLR <5.0 (p = 0.008).ConclusionThe benefits of osimertinib necessitate that aggressive re-biopsy after progression on first- or second-generation EGFR-TKI treatment is merited for appropriate second-line treatments to provide better outcomes for these patients

Interpretable Self-Attention Temporal Reasoning for Driving Behavior Understanding

Performing driving behaviors based on causal reasoning is essential to ensure driving safety. In this work, we investigated how state-of-the-art 3D Convolutional Neural Networks (CNNs) perform on classifying driving behaviors based on causal reasoning. We proposed a perturbation-based visual explanation method to inspect the models' performance visually. By examining the video attention saliency, we found that existing models could not precisely capture the causes (e.g., traffic light) of the specific action (e.g., stopping). Therefore, the Temporal Reasoning Block (TRB) was proposed and introduced to the models. With the TRB models, we achieved the accuracy of $\mathbf{86.3\%}$, which outperform the state-of-the-art 3D CNNs from previous works. The attention saliency also demonstrated that TRB helped models focus on the causes more precisely. With both numerical and visual evaluations, we concluded that our proposed TRB models were able to provide accurate driving behavior prediction by learning the causal reasoning of the behaviors.Comment: Submitted to IEEE ICASSP 2020; Pytorch code will be released soo